DRUG CASES IN NEGLECT

HOUSTON -- A shortage of federal prosecutors and an emphasis on
immigration violations has pulled resources away from prosecuting drug
smugglers, according to memos released by the Justice Department.

Federal prosecutors in southern Arizona declined to prosecute some
marijuana smugglers carrying less than 500 pounds, according to the
memos, which were released as part of the investigation into the
firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Memos show federal officials warning that the thresholds were "simply
going to be a fact of life" because U.S. attorneys' offices along the
border were "absolutely stretched to the limit."

The cases are then referred to state prosecutors, who often do not
have the resources to take on those cases, a former U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration official told the Houston Chronicle.

"These guys just go free," said Sandalio Gonzalez,a former DEA
official in El Paso. "You have people violating the drug laws who get
away with it."

A Santa Cruz County, Ariz., attorney echoed that sentiment. George
Silva began declining to take on federal narcotics cases a month ago
because of crowding at the jail and growing caseloads on his staff. "I
know for a fact nobody is prosecuting those cases," Mr. Silva said.

But Arizona's U.S. attorney's office said in a memo it was unaware of
any referred cases "that completely fell between the cracks of law
enforcement."

The Southern District of Texas, which includes Houston, almost doubled
the number of immigration cases it filed from 2001 to 2006, compared
with a 25 percent drop in drug cases during the same time period,
according to statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S.
Courts.

In El Paso, District Attorney Jaime Esparza said he doesn't mind
taking on the less serious federal cases, since it frees the feds to
tackle the bigger fish, but noted the financial burden doing that can
bring.

His office sent the Justice Department a $757,500 bill for three
months' worth of drug cases, under a reimbursement program instituted
for border states. He received less than half of the amount back:
$333,661, Mr. Esparza said.

His counterparts in Laredo, Edinburg and Del Rio have declined to take
federal cases all together.