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3/29, Thousands of California Students Walk Out Despite Enforcement of Truancy Laws
These young folks make me proud and give me hope! You go!
Scale of California immigration reform protests slows
- By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
(03-29) 15:29 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Several thousand students demonstrated around California on Wednesday but the extent of protests over proposed immigration reforms declined as police enforced truancy laws after two days of large-scale school walkouts.
In the southern San Joaquin Valley, up to 1,800 students snarled traffic in Bakersfield and 600 marched in a rural area to the south, while in San Diego more than 1,000 students staged walkouts.
But there were only a handful of protests in Los Angeles County, where more than 30,000 cut class to protest on Monday and more than 11,000 hit the streets on Tuesday.
"Things seem to be more quiet," said Susan Cox, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The walkouts from six campuses in the San Diego Unified School District were similar to previous days, said spokeswoman Music McCall.
San Diego County sheriff's deputies arrested 136 students from Mar Vista High School after they congregated at a park in Imperial Beach. One arrest was for resisting arrest and the others were for suspicion of daytime loitering, said Susan Plese, a sheriff's spokeswoman. Buses took the students back to school for processing.
In rural Fresno County, a man and woman were arrested for refusing to cooperate with officers during a march by students and others from Reedley and Parlier, according to the Reedley police. KSEE-TV showed students splashing police with water and throwing bottles during a confrontation.
The week's protests by young students have coincided with U.S. Senate debate on a measure to determine the future of millions of immigrants now living in the United States illegally.
But authorities have begun getting tougher by enforcing truancy and loitering laws, and warning parents.
"The focus is that the kids stay in school. They made their point as to how they feel about this issue," Los Angeles police Sgt. Lee Sands said.
Students who left Westchester High School near Los Angeles International Airport to protest were intercepted by police and bused back to campus. Principal Anita Barmer said the approximately 60 students will receive truancy citations and that they had been told beforehand that they would be punished if they chose to leave.
The citations require students to appear in court with their parents. The students could face fines up to $250.
"We wanted to make it so people could hear us, so we could make a big difference," said student Omar Lemons.
Another 100 students walked out of an LAUSD school in the San Fernando Valley and six youngsters left an elementary school, Cox said.
In the Monterey Bay region, 100 students from high schools in Santa Cruz rallied downtown. In Watsonville, some 200 middle school students walked out and gathered with high school students in a plaza.
"I'm out here because I want people to know that laws that take away immigrant rights are just not fair," said Ricky Coria, 17, a senior at Renaissance High School in Watsonville.
Activists who gathered at Los Angeles City Hall called for students to remain in school and for education officials to arrange a legal protest, perhaps in a sports stadium.
Members of the National Lawyers Guild also offered free legal defense for students cited for truancy.
"I think it's exciting that youths are getting politicized and getting their voices heard. ... We should be there to protect them," said Cynthia Anderson-Barker, an attorney with the group.
Spanish-language radio host Renan Almendarez Coello, known as "El Cucuy," praised youngsters for getting involved. Speaking in Spanish, he also urged students to not break the law and to "make the revolution while studying in the classroom."
- By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
(03-29) 15:29 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Several thousand students demonstrated around California on Wednesday but the extent of protests over proposed immigration reforms declined as police enforced truancy laws after two days of large-scale school walkouts.
In the southern San Joaquin Valley, up to 1,800 students snarled traffic in Bakersfield and 600 marched in a rural area to the south, while in San Diego more than 1,000 students staged walkouts.
But there were only a handful of protests in Los Angeles County, where more than 30,000 cut class to protest on Monday and more than 11,000 hit the streets on Tuesday.
"Things seem to be more quiet," said Susan Cox, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The walkouts from six campuses in the San Diego Unified School District were similar to previous days, said spokeswoman Music McCall.
San Diego County sheriff's deputies arrested 136 students from Mar Vista High School after they congregated at a park in Imperial Beach. One arrest was for resisting arrest and the others were for suspicion of daytime loitering, said Susan Plese, a sheriff's spokeswoman. Buses took the students back to school for processing.
In rural Fresno County, a man and woman were arrested for refusing to cooperate with officers during a march by students and others from Reedley and Parlier, according to the Reedley police. KSEE-TV showed students splashing police with water and throwing bottles during a confrontation.
The week's protests by young students have coincided with U.S. Senate debate on a measure to determine the future of millions of immigrants now living in the United States illegally.
But authorities have begun getting tougher by enforcing truancy and loitering laws, and warning parents.
"The focus is that the kids stay in school. They made their point as to how they feel about this issue," Los Angeles police Sgt. Lee Sands said.
Students who left Westchester High School near Los Angeles International Airport to protest were intercepted by police and bused back to campus. Principal Anita Barmer said the approximately 60 students will receive truancy citations and that they had been told beforehand that they would be punished if they chose to leave.
The citations require students to appear in court with their parents. The students could face fines up to $250.
"We wanted to make it so people could hear us, so we could make a big difference," said student Omar Lemons.
Another 100 students walked out of an LAUSD school in the San Fernando Valley and six youngsters left an elementary school, Cox said.
In the Monterey Bay region, 100 students from high schools in Santa Cruz rallied downtown. In Watsonville, some 200 middle school students walked out and gathered with high school students in a plaza.
"I'm out here because I want people to know that laws that take away immigrant rights are just not fair," said Ricky Coria, 17, a senior at Renaissance High School in Watsonville.
Activists who gathered at Los Angeles City Hall called for students to remain in school and for education officials to arrange a legal protest, perhaps in a sports stadium.
Members of the National Lawyers Guild also offered free legal defense for students cited for truancy.
"I think it's exciting that youths are getting politicized and getting their voices heard. ... We should be there to protect them," said Cynthia Anderson-Barker, an attorney with the group.
Spanish-language radio host Renan Almendarez Coello, known as "El Cucuy," praised youngsters for getting involved. Speaking in Spanish, he also urged students to not break the law and to "make the revolution while studying in the classroom."
For more information:
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- By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
(03-28) 10:52 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Thousands of students ditched classes Tuesday for the second day in a row, ignoring rain and campus lockdowns to protest immigration legislation they see as an attack on Hispanic rights.
During the morning, 5,395 students left schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, even though middle and high schools had barred youngsters from leaving campus, district spokeswoman Monica Carazo said.
About 800 students from San Diego-area schools walked out to protest.
Several hundred students, some carrying Mexican flags, marched down streets in Wilmington, a working-class area south of downtown Los Angeles, ignoring pleas a day earlier from police and the mayor to stay in school.
Authorities who had taken a watch-and-wait attitude on Monday had a harsher stance Tuesday.
In the city of Carson, authorities with batons and helmets temporarily ringed dozens of youngsters in front of a high school before allowing them to march.
In the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, at least 50 students were cited for truancy and taken back to schools. A 14-year-old boy was arrested for investigation of disturbing the peace and taken to the police station before being released to his parents, Sgt. Mark Jauregui said.
Some students were halted as they walked onto a freeway, forcing police to briefly close all lanes and divert them before they reached the soaring Vincent Thomas Bridge over Los Angeles harbor, the sergeant said.
Most of the 500 students in San Pedro appeared to have come straight to the march rather than leaving the closed campuses, Jauregui said.
Students also reportedly walked off in suburban Bellflower.
The 728,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District saw about 26,000 students walk out of 56 schools on Monday, at a cost of more than $500,000 in lost state attendance funds. The district receives state money for every student in class and that money is withheld when a student is absent.
Student walkouts continued in other states as well.
In Texas, hundreds of students left classes. In Dallas, some gathered to shout and wave signs at City Hall. One student's hand was severed when a sport utility vehicle she was riding in crashed on the way to a rally.
Students at several Las Vegas high schools also walked out.
The Senate was set to take up a bill on Tuesday that will determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally.
On Monday, some 36,000 students from 25 Los Angeles County school districts walked out of class, officials said, with more than 1,000 protesting outside Los Angeles City Hall for much of the day.
The youths tied up streets and 300 even made a dangerous foray onto a downtown freeway to loudly protest against legislation approved by the House that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and build fences along part of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Most of the protests were peaceful, but rock- and bottle-throwing led to some arrests. The walkouts followed a weekend of enormous rallies, including one that drew as many as 500,000 demonstrators in Los Angeles.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praised the students' action but also urged them to return to school.
Police Chief William Bratton said Los Angeles police made four arrests for assault and one for disorderly conduct Monday.
Other protests were reported across the state and in Washington, Phoenix, Detroit and Yakima, Wash. In some places, arrests and possible injuries were reported as a result of demonstrators throwing bottles and rocks.
In Watsonville, Calif., some fights and disorderly conduct marred a protest that drew about 800 students.
The march began peacefully, said police Capt. Eddie Rodriguez, but "at some point, it's like the protesters lost focus of what they were doing, and that's when we got reports of fights, assaults and bottles being thrown at vehicles."
Twenty-one minors and three adults were arrested Monday in Escondido, a north San Diego suburb, for unlawful assembly, truancy and assaulting a police officer, said police Lt. Dave Mankin. Some of the 600 demonstrators threw objects at police but no injuries were reported, he said.
As the protests raged, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation late Monday that would clear the way for millions of undocumented workers to seek U.S. citizenship without having to first leave the country.
The committee also voted down proposed criminal penalties on immigrants found to be in the country illegally. It approved a new temporary program that would allow entry for 1.5 million workers seeking jobs in the agriculture industry.