Free Republic

MIRA LOMA - A Jurupa Valley High School senior was denied his court request to wear an anti-illegal immigration T-shirt to school in Riverside County Superior Court on Wednesday. But 18-year-old Joshua Denhalter's disappointment is outweighed by school finals, graduation and saying goodbye to friends before he leaves for the Marines Corps in less than two weeks. "I think it was a good thing for me to try to get a point across," Denhalter said. "I'm just concentrating on graduating and getting in boot camp. But it would have been a great victory to wear my shirt." The emergency request...

MIRA LOMA A high school student sued his school district after he was suspended for distributing flyers about an off-campus rally against illegal immigration. Joshua Denhalter, an 18-year-old senior at Jurupa Valley High School, said he sought permission to hold a demonstration after a school assembly turned into a virtual rally supporting illegal immigrants. School officials denied his request, saying a protest could lead to violence. Denhalter said he then tried to organize an off-campus rally in March and was suspended for three days for passing out flyers about it on school property. He said he also was told he...

MIRA LOMA - A Jurupa Valley High School senior suspended for promoting an anti-immigration protest on campus has filed a lawsuit, arguing the school violated his free speech rights. Joshua Denhalter, 18, was suspended for three days in late March after he attempted to organize a counterprotest against pro-immigration-inspired demonstrations and school walkouts. The mass protests were in response to harsher penalties for illegal immigrants being proposed in Congress. "There are two standards. Students can walk out of school, walk on to freeways, and nothing happens to them. I try to do something legally, and I get slapped,'' Denhalter said...