HISPANIC ACTIVISTS FILE LAWSUIT TO STOP ANTI-DRUG OPERATION ALONG THE BORDER

LAREDO (AP) -- A Hispanic rights group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday
seeking to stop an anti-drug operation along the border launched by the
military and U.S. Border Patrol.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, suing on behalf of
two residents of a colonia, asked U.S. District Judge George Kazen of
Laredo to immediately stop a military operation that aims to build or
improve 240 miles of roads and to build helicopter landing pads.

The project is intended to make it easier for the Border Patrol to reach
remote areas along the Rio Grande. Targets of the operation are drug
smugglers as well as undocumented immigrants and bandits who prey on them.

"We want the court to look at it as quickly as possible to stop the
construction that is already under way," said Cynthia Cano, an attorney for
MALDEF in San Antonio.

The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army
Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service,
which oversees the Border Patrol.

The suit claims roads to be built in the targeted construction zone will
adversely affect the area's environment.

However, Cano said, plaintiffs Maria Gonzales and Guadalupe Elizondo of the
Rio Bravo colonia are worried about having soldiers around their community,
especially in light of last year's fatal shooting of teen-ager Esequiel
Hernandez by a Marine on drug patrol in the Big Bend area.

"We are ultimately concerned about the use of that infrastructure," the
attorney said.

Also suing to stop the project are the Rio Grande International Study
Center and rancher David Brask, according to Cano. They are represented by
environmental attorneys from Austin.

Maureen Bossch, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Six, which oversees
joint military-law enforcement operations, said she had not seen the
lawsuit but defended the roads project as environmentally safe.

"They spend a lot of time, money and effort to ensure that they comply with
all the environmental regulations," she said. "If this project were not
environmentally sound the military wouldn't be doing it."

She also said the project is entirely different from the military anti-drug
patrols in West Texas, which were suspended after the shooting of
Hernandez. No soldiers are carrying weapons in the initiative in Webb,
Dimmit and Maverick counties, she said.

The military is bringing in more than 500 soldiers for the project centered
near the border cities of Laredo and Carrizo Springs. In addition to
building or improving roads, the crews are building a dozen helicopter
landing pads and a refueling site for helicopters.

Opponents claim it is a militarization of the border and that the project
will threaten wildlife and increase erosion along the Rio Grande.