13-Jun-1998 Saturday
U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin spent his last day in office yesterday meeting
with reporters and talking about his legacy.
Bersin, who became the U.S. attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties in
November 1993, has been selected superintendent of the San Diego Unified
School District. He said his resignation as U.S. attorney will be effective
at 8 a.m. Monday, and he plans to assume his new duties by attending his
first school board meeting two hours later.
Bersin said he will remain a special assistant U.S. attorney to handle
federal issues involving three local Indian tribes and a dispute over the
legality of their casinos.
The issues, however, are expected to become moot if the Indians work out
gaming pacts with the state.
Charles LaBella, Bersin's second-in-command, is to take over as interim
U.S. attorney until a permanent replacement is chosen by Sen. Barbara
Boxer, D-Calif., appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
LaBella has spent the past seven months in Washington, D.C., working on the
Justice Department's investigation into allegations of campaign finance
irregularities by top Democrats, including President Clinton and Vice
President Al Gore.
He said yesterday that he has not completed his report to Attorney General
Janet Reno and will not stay in San Diego full time until it is finished.
He said that he would be in his San Diego office Monday morning and that he
would remain through next week.
At a noon news conference, Bersin said he considered his top achievement
over the past five years to be "the quality of the team we've built in this
office to serve the public."
He said he did not feel morally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
immigrants, which his critics have attributed to Operation Gatekeeper, the
government's law enforcement build-up at the border.
As Reno's so-called "border czar" Bersin became identified with Gatekeeper,
which critics said pushed illegal immigrants away from easy routes across
the border to their deaths in treacherous terrain in mountains and deserts
east of San Diego.
"The tragedy of migrants . . . dying is a horrible regret of any action
which has that outcome," Bersin said.
The deaths, he said, are "a source of sadness and tragedy."
But he added: "The moral compass is clear for me."
Bersin said he did not consider employers who hire illegal immigrants to be
morally responsible, either, saying the people who smuggle the migrants
across the border are the ones to blame for the tragedies.