BORDER DAS MAY GET MILLIONS FOR DRUG CASES

BROWNSVILLE -- District attorneys along the Texas-Mexico border say
they are considering handling small-time federal drug cases again
after learning the federal government may pay $10 million toward
prosecution costs.

Jaime Esparza, district attorney for El Paso and Hudspeth counties,
said prosecutors still have to check the federal legislation for
themselves, but "I think we're very pleased."

The $10 million in emergency funding was obtained by Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison, R-Texas, who added it to a spending bill passed Friday by
Congress. The bill is expected to be signed into law, a Hutchison
spokeswoman said.

Border prosecutors had been fuming as the number of petty drug
seizures at international bridges and immigration checkpoints rose
sharply with increased law enforcement at the border.

A handful of DAs announced they would stop handling the cases as of
Oct. 1 because of the high costs of prosecution -- costs borne by
local taxpayers.

Though $3 million was earmarked for the Texas cases last June -- part
of a $12 million appropriation for the Southwest border =F3 the Justice
Department would not permit the money to be spent on detention of
federal drug suspects.

Though that $3 million remains unspent, federal legislators backed
=46riday's bill, which has specific language approving reimbursement
for incarceration.

"Detention costs are about 75 percent of the total cost of
prosecuting these cases," said Esparza, who has asserted that 60
lawyers in his office prosecute about 500 federal drug cases annually
at a cost of $8 million to local taxpayers. "So we're very close to
having the cases completely reimbursed with this legislation."

Esparza said border prosecutors also want funding for prosecutors'
salaries, but he didn't perceive that as being a sticking point.

"Our only hesitancy is we've been through this once before with the
federal government, so we'd like to make sure there's a clear
understanding on both sides," he said. "We don't want to end up in
the same situation we were in in the early fall."

At that time, six of eight border prosecutors dumped as many as 2,000
cases a year back into the laps of federal prosecutors. U.S.
attorneys in San Antonio and Houston said they would take up the
slack, but it would be a strain.

District Attorney Joe Rubio, who oversees Webb and Zapata counties,
first stepped away from the federal cases in 1997. He said Monday
that he doubted he would reconsider accepting the cases until a
permanent funding solution was in place.

"Our jurisdiction and all jurisdictions on the border are some of the
poorest in the state, if not the nation, and any dollar that is used
to prosecute these cases is being taken away from local citizens," he
said.

"I think this is a step in the right direction, but until we come up
with an equitable formula for reimbursement, I don't think any of the
counties will be taking federal referrals," he continued.

A Hutchison spokesman said legislators will continue to seek a
permanent solution to the problem.

"This will hopefully get (prosecutors) through the year," he said.
"We're hoping to work with the Justice Department to prioritize the
border in a way that these emergency remedies aren't necessary.

"It would be better if the federal government just stepped up to the
line and did what it was supposed to do and paid for it."