As the U. S. Border Patrol doubled its staff in Ajo, Arizona nine miles north of the Mexican border, the government bought land and sited 20 manufactured homes and built 21 two-and-three bedroom homes for the expansion, spending $17 million, about $680,000 per home in a town of less than 4,000 where the average home price is around $90,000. Locals complained that there were available homes for rent, but the Border Patrol said the homes, mostly older, were not up to government standards and guidelines. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found the U. S. Customs and Border Patrol overspent by $4.6 million on the project, according to heraldstandard.com.
The agency said the isolation of the town led the agency to provide quality, cost-effective housing for its front-line border security personnel and their families, and it disputes how the inspector general arrived at its conclusion. MHProNews understands the former copper mining town depends in part on tourists headed to Mexico for revenue, and that providing 41 homes, half of them manufactured homes, was certainly a stimulus for the local economy. A spokesman for the Border Patrol declined to say how many of the homes are occupied. ##
