San Diego

A 58-year-old black woman who worked for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego for more than 20 years has filed a lawsuit contending that she was wrongfully discharged last month because of discrimination.

In the suit filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Diego, the plaintiff, Marie Louise Burns, a former inspector at the port of entry at San Ysidro, maintains that she was fired April 18 “in retaliation” for filing a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She maintains that she has been discriminated against because of her color, age and sex.

James Turnage, district director for the INS in San Diego, said he had not read the lawsuit and declined comment.

Burns is seeking reinstatement to her job, back pay and other benefits, and a transfer to another port of entry “free of a bigoted and prejudicial environment.”