State’s Immigration Suit Against U.S. Dismissed : Courts: Wilson vows to continue fight to have federal government cover costs of dealing with illegal aliens.

A federal judge Monday threw out a lawsuit filed by the state of California seeking billions of dollars from the federal government to cover the cost of providing services to illegal immigrants.

Gov. Pete Wilson, who had ordered the lawsuit filed as part of his tough stand against illegal immigration, vowed to continue the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Californians should not give up hope,” Wilson said. “Major groundbreaking court decisions are rarely made at this level in the court system.”

In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Judith Keep agreed with the U.S. attorney general’s office that there is no legal precedent for a state suing the federal government for failing to fully enforce immigration laws.

Keep, appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter, affirmed all 11 points made by the U.S. attorney general on why California’s lawsuit could not proceed.

Among other things, she agreed that illegal immigration does not fit the definition of an “invasion” that threatens “national sovereignty” as argued by Wilson and California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

She said that the courts, despite California’s claims, lack the power to order the federal government to deport illegal immigrants into the interior of Mexico to make it harder for them to cross the border into California, or to order that people repeatedly caught sneaking into the country be prosecuted rather than just deported.

And she said the state cannot sue to recover the cost of education for illegal immigrants because public education is mandated by state law, not federal law.

The effects of border problems on the country are “legitimate concerns,” Keep said. “(But) my jurisdiction in this area is very limited.”

The lawsuit, filed in April during the gubernatorial campaign, seeks $377 million for the cost of incarcerating 17,000 illegal immigrants convicted of felonies, $1.6 billion to build eight prisons, $1.7 billion for education costs and $400 million for providing emergency health care.

Under what is called the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the federal government cannot be sued unless it consents to be sued, although that protection does not apply to negligent acts by individual federal employees.

Keep’s decision is akin to one issued by a federal judge in Florida in December dismissing a similar suit by the state of Florida. Immigration compensation suits have also been filed by Texas, Arizona, New Jersey and New York.

Atlhough the rejection of the California lawsuit is not a surprise to most legal scholars, it adds to the complexity of political bickering over immigration.

While fighting the lawsuit to compensate California for providing services to millions of illegal immigrants who have eluded the U.S. Border Patrol, the Clinton Administration is also trying to convince the public that it has done more than any other administration to prevent illegal immigration.

A parade of Administration officials, including Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, have gone to the border at San Ysidro to hold media events to announce beefed-up efforts to repel illegal immigrants. Wilson, and other Republican lawmakers, have responded that the Administration’s efforts are too little and too late. That stance was also an important part of Wilson’s successful campaign against Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown.

California filed three lawsuits against the federal government over illegal immigration. They were joined into one for Keep’s consideration and her dismissal covers all three.

In reacting to Keep’s decision, Wilson indicated that politics, not the court system, is probably the best bet for California in fighting illegal immigration.

He mentioned working with House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and other congressional leaders “to ensure that California taxpayers are no longer burdened with picking up the cost of the federal government’s failure to secure the border.”

Wilson also tried to put pressure on President Clinton to sign a bill passed by the House to allocate $600 million to states to pay for keeping large numbers of illegal immigrants behind bars for felonies. He noted that, if signed by the President, the legislation would send a large part of those funds to California.

Times staff writer Dave Lesher contributed to this story.