By United Press.

WASHINGTON, Wednesday, Feb. 11.--Legal barriers to proposed plans for coping with the alien problem on the West Coast may result in declaration of martial law in Pacific states, Justice Department officials said today.

That would permit the Army to move dangerous citizens as well as enemy aliens away from strategic areas.

The department is seeking ways of combating espionage and fifth columns in Pacific Coast states and of meeting the dual-citizenship problem of second-generation Japanese.

Martial law, officials said, would be easier to administer than the suggestion of a committee of Pacific Coast senators and representatives that all persons, aliens and citizens, be evacuated and that desirable individuals affected by the order be readmitted only on license.