COUNTY TO STOP TRYING FEDERAL DRUG CASES

District Attorney Jaime Esparza said starting July 1 he will not take any
more federal drug cases, which his office has prosecuted for several years
as a favor to federal prosecutors.

"I can do no more," Esparza said. "This county is not wealthy, and I don't
think we should shoulder burden of the drug war for the rest of the country."

Unless an already-strapped U.S. attorney's office takes the cases,
estimated to be 500 to 1,000 a year, Esparza said he is "real concerned"
that the defendants might go unprosecuted. He said he would prosecute the
cases if the federal government reimbursed the cost.

Esparza said one study suggests the cases cost urban counties like El Paso
$8.2 million a year. El Paso now receives one annual federal grant of about
$150,000.

It is unclear what will happen to the cases. Federal prosecutors in the
Western district of Texas, whom Esparza wrote last week, have not
responded. Neither have other Justice Department officials, including
Attorney General Janet Reno, with whom Esparza has talked about the issue.

"I don't know if we have the resources to take the cases," said John
Russell, a Justice Department spokesman.

Other Texas district attorneys also have have decided to stop taking the
federal drug cases, said Esparza, who is president of the Organization of
Southwest Border Prosecutors.

Politicians and other officials have stepped up criticism of the way a
crackdown on drugs and illegal immigration has been paid for.

"You reach a limit where you just can't take on anymore cases," said Karen
Redmond of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. "They're in
trouble in the border courts. They are just overwhelmed."