Posted on 03/28/2006 10:10:51 AM PST by BurbankKarl
Edited on 03/28/2006 10:15:04 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
Being busboys and dishwashers
How strange. When I was in high school in the late 70s those very jobs provided me with spending money, and I'm not Mexican. Neither were any of the dozens of other high schoolers who worked the same jobs alongside me. As best I can tell, none of us ever thought ourselves "demeaned", "exploited", or thought that clearing away and washing dishes was a job that was beneath us.
So what changed?
What changed is that lawnmowers can only be run by illegals; were it not for mowing lawns in the neighborhood, I would never have been able to afford my college textbooks. Can't bus tables, because one has to speak fluent Spanish to speak to the rest of the kitchen staff. Make beds in a motel? Oh, no, there's an illegal there doing the job.
These aren't jobs that Americans won't do, these are jobs that have been stolen from our children.
Students re-enact crossing of Rio Grande at Dallas, TX city hall.
The parents okayed the walkout?!
What do they have to say about it!
The little thugs have been making you work hard today! My sympathy.
What about Montebello City Council...?
I feel Villaraigosa's behavior last Saturday had a lot to do with this. A lot. It was irresponsible for him to get up and advocate for all the imaginary grievances of these people.
The Governor would have to approve an extension of the school year. AND that won't happen because it would have to be statewide.
I have to shut down for a bit; thunder and lightening!! (RARE in OR!)
Ask for the board, or the principal of the school to meet with the public about this matter. Not a regularly scheduled meeting but a meeting just on this topic. Invite your police chief or sheriff to come and talk about the number of arrests, what the arrests were for, and how much it cost them to supervise these kids.
They cannot refuse to meet with the public, especially if parents are in the group. The police and sheriff CAD reports are public record, some arrest reports may be redacted, but CITIZENS of the United States have a right to this information.
You may be shocked at the true behavior of some of the students, if you get the sheriff or police to come and talk to your group.
The minute you put the administration on the hot seat, the heads of the enablers will roll. Do it. It works.
The police had better start arresting the enablers/revolutionaries. They have to know that when tshtf, they're the number one target of the anarchists.
Yes they must. And patriotic Americans better start caring about the "education" their tax dollars are providing to these budding insurgents.
Even better if they were hard working and following the laws IN their home country.
Just what Mexico needs....an influx of hard working law abiding Mexican citizens.
So what changed?..... Society changed
How many kids do you know now a days that have dishwashing jobs after school? or mow lawns and cut trees for extra money? I know the kids that bag groceries at my local supermarkets are so slow I end up bagging my items myself.
I remember a school in the Bay area that had a fire during Christmas break years ago. The school delayed opening for three days and it was tacked on to the end of the year. The school district made those decisions for that one school.
Scan of a high school handout from Texas.
Thank you for the link. This is disgusting. I noticed yesterday they were chanting "Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!". Why, if they want to be citizens, weren't they chanting, "USA! USA! USA!"?
Marisa Venegas and four other students at Valencia High school were arrested after they staged a pro-immigrant demonstration through the streets of Placentia this morning. Some of the students were arrested for trespassing and others for rowdy behavior, according to Liliana Venegas, an aunt of a student.
Just before noon, about 40 protesters walked onto the San Diego (405) Freeway at Victory Boulevard, forcing the California Highway Patrol to shut down northbound lanes of the freeway. CHP officers escorted the students back to a school campus, and no arrests were made, LAPD Sgt. Dave Cueto said.
About 5,300 students walked out from middle schools and high schools citywide, despite lockdowns enforced by the district, LAUSD spokeswoman Susan Cox said. The crowd was much smaller than Monday's massive 26,000-student walkout.
I immediately saw my mistake and corrected it in post #44. I'm so wound up on this topic that my eyes weren't seeing correctly....
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