US President Donald Trump has said that he is directing the opening of a detention centre at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 migrants who are living illegally in the US.

Trump made the announcement right before he signed the Laken Riley Act into law as his administration’s first piece of legislation.It is focused on detaining and potentially deporting people in the country illegally if they’re accused of theft and other violent crimes.

“We’re going to send them out to Guantanamo,” Trump said.

The American military base in Cuba has been used to house detainees from the US war on terrorism.

It was established in 2002 by then president George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorism attacks in the US.

The Laken Riley Act was described by Trump as a “landmark law” and “tremendous tribute” to the slain Georgia nursing student for whom it is named.

The law mandates that people in the US illegally who are accused of theft and violent crimes be detained and potentially deported, even before a conviction.

Laken Riley, 22, went out for a run in February last year in the US state of Georgia and was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally. Ibarra was found guilty in November and sentenced to life without parole.