Federal Auditors: Border Agency Must Fix Or Close Remote Post
Federal investigators have found that U.S. Border Patrol agents working out of a base in one of the most isolated parts of the U.S.-Mexico border are living in inadequate conditions, affecting their security, health and safety concerns.
Auditors from the Office of Inspector General looked at seven Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), remote outposts that are a key strategy to keep people from crossing the border into some of the desert’s most unforgiving terrains.
At one FOB in Arizona’s Western Desert (exact locations of the FOBs were not disclosed by the OIG), agents didn’t have sufficient air conditioning to mitigate for outside temperatures above 100 degrees. At times, the inside of the facility topped 80 degrees.
Auditors found it also lacked a working video security system or even an electronic gate. In fact, when auditors arrived, the gate leading to the FOB was wide open.
Half the Border Patrol agents interviewed told auditors the FOB was unclean. The report also found the water from a well at the base was unsafe to drink and the access road leading to it was falling apart.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told auditors it intends to keep the FOB open. But officials said CBP doesn’t have the budget yet to give a timeline for the repairs.
Click on image for the full report.
