ANIMAS, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol will open a new outpost in the New Mexico Bootheel about 20 miles from the Mexico border.
Friday's announcement ends months of controversy about where the planned outpost would be built.
Border officials say construction is expected to take four to six months.
Agency spokesman Doug Mosier says the substation is needed because the isolated region is seeing higher levels of illegal immigration and drug trafficking due to beefed up enforcement around El Paso, Texas, and the rest of New Mexico.
Some area ranchers had wanted the border patrol to move its preferred site, which sits on private land around 20 miles from the border. They wanted it on a federal land closer to the border.
Federal officials say the preferred site is more tactically sound.
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