CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WALK OUT
Immigration News Briefs (INB)

In the Los Angeles area on Mar. 24, school district officials
estimated that more than 2,700 students walked out of at least
eight schools to protest anti-immigrant bills being considered by
Congress. [New York Times 3/25/06] At least 500 students started
the walkout at Huntington Park High School; some 300 students
then walked to Bell High and 200 went to South Gate High. Those
schools were locked down--meaning no one can come in or leave--
before the protesters reached them, said Los Angeles Unified
School District (LAUSD) spokesperson Olga Quinones. At Bell,
teacher Joan Dooley said hundreds of students climbed the gates
to join the protesters in the streets. "Those kids had a right to
walk out," Dooley said. "When they saw this huge mob...they
should have opened the gate."

Students who were blocked from walking out at Bell, South Gate
and San Fernando high schools protested on campus. Walkouts also
took place at Garfield, Roosevelt and Montebello high schools. In
Riverside County, 400 students at two campuses in the Moreno
Valley Unified School District held rallies but did not leave
school grounds, officials said. [Los Angeles Times 3/25/06; AP
3/25/06; 10News.com (San Diego) 3/24/06] Another 1,500 students
rallied in Evergreen Park in Boyle Heights for an hour after
walking out of classes at Garfield, Montebello and Roosevelt high
schools, according to LAUSD official Rafael Escobar. Some 73% of
the 877,010 students in the LAUSD this year are Latino. [LAT
3/24/06]

In northern California, about 300 students at Ceres High School
near Modesto--deep in the central valley east of San Francisco--
staged a protest before school. Administrators allowed the
demonstration for two class periods. "We felt it was valuable for
them to experience democracy in action," said Ceres Unified
School District Superintendent Walt Hanline. "People need to
understand this legislation is creating a lot of fear for
people." About 100 students refused to go to classes after the
demonstration and were suspended for three days. Police cited
eight for trespassing after they refused to go to a gym with the
other suspended students. [AP 3/25/06]

Pro-immigrant groups are holding a massive demonstration in
downtown Los Angeles on Mar. 25 to express their opposition to
the bill. [10News.com 3/24/06] The march is being organized by
several organizations, including the Coalition for Humane
Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), as part of a "Weekend
of Action" against the Sensenbrenner bill and related
legislation. [LAT 3/24/06, 3/25/06]