Sheriffs along the Texas-Mexico border say they're exhausted with dealing with the overflow of illegal immigration.

The toll on manpower, fuel and equipment has reached such an alarming level, they say, that the sheriffs from the 16 Texas counties along the border formed an alliance and planned to discuss the problem Wednesday and Thursday in Del Rio, a border town about 150 miles west of San Antonio.

Calling themselves the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, the group formed in May and is seeking more federal and state funding to pay for the costs of illegal immigration that county budgets can't afford, coalition members said.

'The coalition feels the federal government is not adequately protecting the border,' said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, coalition president. 'If anything happens along the border, we'd be the first ones to respond.'

'We are getting intelligence that some Middle Easterners are making their way through Mexico and don't mind paying high dollar for those who smuggle narcotics to smuggle these people across the border and, God forbid, smuggle weapons of mass destruction, [Webb County Sheriff Rick] Flores said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico's southern chapter will remain suspended until September.

The A-C-L-U's state director, Peter Simonson, says the suspension will enable the A-C-L-U to rewrite some bylaws.

He says the revamped bylaws would allow the A-C-L-U's state and national leaders to oust a chapter board member, Clifford Alford, who is not adhering to the A-C-L-U's goals.