By Bob Ortega | The Arizona Republic
Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation are seeking answers from the Department of Homeland Security on why Customs and Border Protection spent about $15 million for housing in the former mining town of Ajo.
At a town hall meeting Tuesday in Tucson, in response to questions about the housing, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, “It’s disgraceful.” Asked by a constituent how it could be justified, he replied, “It can’t. It can’t be; and people should be fired.”
As The Arizona Republic reported Monday, the CBP paid more than $600,000 each to build 21 modest homes for its personnel in Ajo, a small southern Arizona town where similar-size homes typically cost less than $100,000. The CBP also paid more than $2 million to buy 20 park-model trailer homes and lease land on which to park them. The housing project opened in February.
