WASHINGTON - A Bush administration drive to build 70 miles of fencing along the Texas-Mexico border before leaving office could be sidetracked by a lawsuit that 19 border communities filed Friday.

The Texas Border Coalition, citing what it called lawless conduct by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, asked a U.S. District Court judge to force the federal government to halt land acquisition and construction.

The lawsuit accuses Chertoff and others of failing to notify landowners of their rights, failing to negotiate a reasonable price for access to their lands, and exempting some wealthy owners from having the fence built across their properties.

Chertoff "has gone too far in his zeal to build this feel-good, yet ineffective, Great Wall of Texas," said Chad Foster, mayor of Eagle Pass and chairman of the border coalition, which represents cities from Brownsville to El Paso.

Brownsville Mayor Patricio M. Ahumada Jr. said federal officials tried to "ramrod a wall" on local communities.

Peter Schey, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and lead counsel in the case, said Friday's lawsuit would be followed within days by a request for a temporary restraining order to block land seizures and fence construction.

The case is handled by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, whom President Bush named to the federal bench in 2001.

The Bush administration is pressing to complete 670 miles of physical barriers and high-tech virtual fencing along the 1,972-mile border. But the legal wrangling could delay construction in Texas, pushing decisions on completion into next year, when a new president and new Congress will take office.

Laura Keehner, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said the suit is a delaying tactic and added that construction would continue. "There should be no uncertainty about our commitment to border security, and we've made no secret that fencing is a key part of our efforts at the border," Keehner said. "We're building 670 miles of fencing by the end of this year, and are well on our way to meeting this goal."

The suit was designed to force federal officials to restart a protracted process to survey land as a first step to federal purchase.

Chertoff has run "roughshod over the rights of property owners to build a border wall on a foundation of lawlessness," Schey said. "We hope that we are able to bring this lawless conduct to build this wall into conformity with federal statutes and the United States Constitution."

Federal officials intimidated some landowners along the border by sending Homeland Security officials and agents of the Corps of Engineers and Border Patrol to try to arrange access to survey their properties, Schey contended.

The suit also noted that fence construction would bypass the River Bend Resort and golf course in Brownsville, and border lands owned by Dallas billionaire Ray Hunt and his relatives.

Keehner rejected the lawsuit's allegations. "We've nearly bent over backward to work with landowners," she said in a statement. Yearlong discussions took place with landowners and state and local officials, she said, about the placement of fencing. Federal officials, she said, contacted more than 600 landowners, held dozens of town hall meetings, and mailed hundreds of letters to property owners "requesting access to private property so that we could make operational and environmental assessments of the area prior to making any decisions."