By Bob Ortega | USA TODAY
Following an uproar by residents and some members of Congress, the Department of Homeland Security has opened an investigation into whether $15 million in tax dollars to build housing for Border Patrol agents here was improperly spent.
As part of the probe, auditors from Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General traveled to Ajo, a former mining town in southwestern Arizona, and spent the day Thursday interviewing residents, real-estate agents and Customs and Border Protection officials.
The new housing has drawn fire from local real-estate agents and residents, who complained CBP officials grossly overpaid to build the houses at a time when the town already has an abundance of low-cost housing.