The Department of Homeland Security is facing another lawsuit to block construction of 670 miles of fence on the Mexican border.

The Texas Border Coalition of cities and counties filed suit in federal district court in Washington to stop the project. The legal action claims that Homeland Security has violated numerous laws and regulations as it pushes to complete the barrier by the end of the year. It charges that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff failed to negotiate with landowners for reasonable prices before seizing their land.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to halt work on the project. It also accuses Homeland Security of showing preferential treatment by avoiding the property of wealthy, influential landowners, including one with ties to President Bush.

The suit aligns the public officials with landowners and other groups who have filed legal actions against the project that will span parts of Texas, California and New Mexico.

Environmentalists want the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their claims that Mr. Chertoff violated the Constitution when he waived compliance with three dozen laws to speed up the project.

Some landowners say they have not been given fair compensation for their property. A separate lawsuit by two Texas families is also on appeal before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The project is seen by supporters as a necessary means to curb illegal immigration, although opponents argue that illegal aliens will not be deterred by a fence they can get around or over. The barrier will also interfere with economic and cultural ties forged along the border.

"We shouldn't be building walls," said Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada. "We should be building alliances with Mexico. The wall is not the solution."

Building the impractical fence is just the beginning of the long-term expense. It will cost tens of millions of dollars to maintain over the next few years. It is a costly, unworkable alternative to the real solution of meaningful immigration reform.