Students Renew Protests, Scuffle With Police

LOS ANGELES -- Despite school lockdowns and rainy weather, thousands of students from nearly two dozen Los Angeles campuses rallied again today for immigrant rights, and some clashed with sheriff's deputies in Carson.

Susan Cox of the Los Angeles Unified School District said about 6,000 students were absent from school today, according to figures compiled at 10:30 a.m. Monica Carazo, also with the district, said students from 20 to 24 campuses were taking part in protests across the area.

In San Pedro, police herded about 150 students off an access road leading to the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Some of the students were cited, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

"A judge could impose a fine, he could impose some conditions of the child staying in school," LAPD Capt. Paul Pesqueria told a local radio station.

School buses were brought in to take the students back to school, the station reported, and some parents joined the rally.

Students also marched this morning in Bellflower, Wilmington and Compton. About 200 to 300 students rallied in front of Carson High School, briefly clashing with sheriff's deputies. Reportedly, students hurled plastic bottles at deputies who tried to move the crowd off the street and onto the campus.

More than 36,000 students from 26 school districts throughout Los Angeles County skipped classes yesterday and marched through streets and on freeways to protest an 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.

LAUSD officials said middle and high school classes throughout the district would have classroom discussions today on 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 (today)."

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 was beefed up on LAUSD campuses, district officials said.

Students -- some of whom snarled traffic by marching on freeways -- who took part in the mass demonstrations could face discipline ranging from suspension to exclusion from certain school-sponsored functions, Lagrosa said.

Five students were arrested during yesterday's protests, police said.

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 yesterday 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.

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