Live Thread: Some Students Walk Out Despite Lockdown (Day 3 of LAUSD walkouts)

NBC 4 ^ | 3/28/06

[BurbankKarl]

Police herded students off an access road leading to the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Tuesday as demonstrations continued against possible immigration reforms. Student marches were also staged Tuesday morning in Bellflower and Compton.

Despite rain and a lockdown in the Los Angeles Unified School District, a group of about 200 students massed near 223rd Street in the Harbor Gateway area in San Pedro and started walking south on Avalon Boulevard shortly after 8 a.m. A separate group of students in San Pedro tried to get onto the Vincent Thomas Bridge, but police stopped them and turned them around, detaining a few.

In the San Fernando Valley, students reportedly walked out of Birmingham High School.

Los Angeles Unified campuses are locked down Tuesday, but the immigration bill that sparked two days of protests will be a topic of classroom discussion, officials said.

More than 36,000 students from 26 school districts throughout Los Angeles County skipped classes on Monday and marched through streets and on freeways to protest the immigration bill being debated by the U.S. Senate.

About 1,000 students rallied for much of the day at Los Angeles City Hall, with several representatives meeting privately with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The mayor later spoke to the students, saying their voices were being heard, but urging them to return to class.

Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton said Monday's rainy forecast would also likely prevent any more mass walkouts by students.

LAUSD officials said middle and high school classes throughout the district would have classroom discussions on Tuesday about a bill introduced by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., which would crack down on employers hiring illegal workers and people smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.

"We will have in-class teachings for students so that they can have conversations to deal with this issue in a very productive way," said Rowena Lagrosa, executive officer of educational services for the district. "We are being proactive so that those students will show up for school tomorrow."

The class discussions will also address freedom of speech, civil protests and events in U.S. history that have involved public protests, according to a district statement.

In addition to the lockdown, police presence will be beefed up on LAUSD campuses, district officials said.

Students who took part in the mass demonstration on Monday and last Friday could face discipline ranging from suspension to exclusion from cebtain school-sponsored functions, Lagrosa said.

The LAPD was placed on citywide tactical alert during Monday's protest, which led to five arrests during a demonstration at Van Nuys City Hall, LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said.

Some students also snarled traffic when they marched on the Harbor (110) and Hollywood (101) freeways in downtown Los Angeles. Other students were reported marching on freeways in San Pedro and Orange County.

"We may be illegal immigrants, but we are human," Metropolitan High School senior Melania Preciado said at City Hall as she waved a Mexican flag. "We deserve the same rights as everyone else, not be treated like criminals."

The Sensenbrenner bill, HR 4437, would require employers to verify Social Security numbers with the Department of Homeland Security, increase penalities for immigrant smuggling and stiffen penalities for undocumented immigrants who reenter the United States after having been removed.

Under the bill, approved last December by the House of Representatives, local law enforcement agencies would be reimbursed for detaining illegal immigrants. Refugees with aggravated felony convictions would also be barred from receiving green cards.

The U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee softened the immigration reform bill on Monday by voting to create a path for some of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens without first leaving the country.

Under the version voted on by the committee, additional foreign workers would be allowed to enter the United States temporarily under a program that also could lead to citizenship.

Additionally, the committee adopted an amendment by Sen Richard Durbin, D- Ill., that would protect charitable organizations and churches from criminal charges for providing aid to illegal immigrants.

The bill will now move to the Senate floor, where an intensive debate likely to find Republicans fighting each other is expected to begin this week.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

why should the students bother with school? They will just go on the welfare rolls and not HAVE to study or work.

[Lurking in Kansas]

.... what's it's worth now.

About 600,000 pesos.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/visas.htm
We already have temporary work visa's. And NAFTA visa's. The issue is that some people do not bother to apply for them, or the quota is filled.

[BurbankKarl]

oh, the Section 8s

[Bella_Bru]

Whittier area students from Pioneer, California and Whittier high schools walked out of classes to protest the proposed federal immigration bill March 27, 2006. The protestors put up the Mexican flag over the American flag flying upsidedown at Montebello High.

Area high school students raise the Mexican flag at the Montebello High School flag pole as they marched to the school to urge those students to also walk and protest against proposition HR 4437 on March 27, 2006, at the Montebello school. Students walked from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera to Pioneer High School in Whittier, then on to Whittier High School, to Montebello High School and then to downtown Los Angeles.

Pico Rivera and Whittier area high school students raise the Mexican flag with the USA flag at Montebello High School as they urged those school's students to join them in a walk to protest against proposition HR 4437 on March 27, 2006, at the Montebello school. Students walked from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera to Pioneer High School in Whittier, then on to Whittier High School, to Montebello High School and then to downtown Los Angeles

Students celebrate their arrival to Montebello High School as they marched from Pico Rivera to Whittier and then to Montebello in protest against proposition HR 4437 on March 27, 2006. Students walked from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera to Pioneer High School in Whittier, then on to Whittier High School, to Montebello High School and then to downtown Los Angeles.

[BurbankKarl]

Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand...

[La Enchiladita]

It's POURING RAIN all day. Somebody up there likes us.

I don't know what's happening in the streets, haven't followed it today. Going out now. If I come across it, I'll deal with it.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Davy Crockett must be rolling over in his grave.

[Republicus2001]

"We may be illegal immigrants, but we are human,"

Wrong Ass-clown - you are a PHONY immigrant -shoving others aside so you can butt in line -

[La Enchiladita]

...public entitlement tantrum,...

Good one!

[BurbankKarl]

Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department ticket a group of students for truancy in Harbor City, California March 28, 2006, after the students did not return to school following earlier demonstrations in Carson, California. The students were voicing their opposition to congressional bill HR 4437, a bill designed to strengthen the enforcement of immigration law.

[used2BDem]

All right! The first picture in that series just sent my blood pressure through the roof!!!!!!

[La Enchiladita]

What happened? Is the principal a Mexican supremacist too?

[Bella_Bru]

Students from Pico Rivera's El Rancho High School, Pioneer High School and Whittier High School and a few from Los Nietos Middle School in Whittier, urge Montebello High School students to leave the school and protest against proposition HR 4437 on March 27, 2006, at the Montebello school. Students walked from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera to Pioneer High School in Whittier, then on to Whittier High School, to Montebello High School and then to downtown Los Angeles.

Students from Marshall High School, Blair High, and Pasadena High School and Muir High School walked to the Pasadena Unified School District Headquarters in protest to denounce a federal legislative proposal that would criminalize illegal immigration and require building a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

[BurbankKarl]

Three Cheers of LAPD Harbor Division!

Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department ticket a group of students for truancy in Harbor City, California March 28, 2006, after the students did not return to school following earlier demonstrations in Carson, California. The students were voicing their opposition to congressional bill HR 4437, a bill designed to strengthen the enforcement of immigration law.

[p23185]

Culver City providing mutual aid at one of their schools. Students being told to get on busses back to campus or they are getting booked. School district has already lost millions in lost education funds and overtime for officers

We have the inmates running the asylum, from both the students and the illegal aliens. Wouldn't be surprised to see the NEA behind all of this high school activism - who in high school could care less whether a head of lettuce costs $1.00 or $3.00? This immigration reform debate is all about economics, pure and simple. Large business behind the need for SLAVE WAGE CLASS since they have now successfully broken most of the unions and sent so many American jobs offshore. Race has not one thing to do with this issue. NOT ONE.

[hedgetrimmer]

Has the school board identified the teachers who are urging the kids along in these walkouts yet? Some curricula propose that walking out is the appropriate political response for almost every situation, and teach kids how to do it.

[Bella_Bru]

SCG and I have been on the phone all day with the Montebello, Pico Pivera, and Whittier school districts. The Pico Rivera District Super is "not available" and his secretary with a heavy Spanish accent did not care a whit. Both Whittier and Montebello expressed their outrage and said that the problem is this: Many of the kids parents okayed them walking out. Both Montebello and Whittier are planning to issue truancy marks anyway.

[bd476]

Thanks Karl. And I'm guessing the likelihood of them paying those tickets is slim to none. Tickets. Unbelievable.

[Bella_Bru]

I am certain the illegal alien apologists on FR must be proud of these students.