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Students Walk Out Of Class, March To City Hall: Salinas: Protesters Demonstrate Against Immigration Legislation

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Claudia Mel, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Mar. 28--With Mexican flags, sombreros and horns, more than 400 students walked out of Alisal High School on Monday and headed south on Williams Street in what would become a march of more than 10 miles around Salinas.

The scene was repeated by thousands of students around the state, including students from Monterey and Watsonville, who took to the streets in protest of proposed legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants.

Without a clear leader or a defined route, the mostly Latino teenagers took to the streets at 11 a.m. chanting "Si se puede," -- "Yes, we can," the rallying cry of farmworkers -- and denouncing what they believe is unfair treatment of immigrants.

"How can they kick you out of a country that's already yours?" said Jose Medrano, an 18-year-old senior. "They are violating our rights as immigrants."

Monday's march in Salinas was the latest in a series of events that began more than two weeks ago in protest of legislation that would turn illegal immigrants -- or anybody caught helping them -- into felons. On Monday night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a legislative package that did not include criminalization measures.

The Senate bill, for now, seems to eclipse a proposed bill, HR 4437, that was approved in the House of Representatives in December. The legislation, proposed by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would also have approved the building of a fence across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier Monday, about 250 students from Alisal High and 150 from Everett Alvarez High, who joined their counterparts at Alisal's campus, debated whether to continue walking to Salinas High, City Hall or Northridge Mall.

They were followed by Salinas police cars, which often stopped traffic on the corners to ensure the safety of the students. They were also followed by friendly cars whose occupants honked their horns and waved Mexican flags as the students continued their way around the city.

Students said they marched because they feel their contributions -- and their parents' -- are not appreciated.

"Whatever they say, they wouldn't do anything without us," said Sandy Picazo, a junior. "I've worked in the fields during the break, and I know how hard that work is."

Students at Alisal, which is 95 percent Latino, are largely children of fieldworkers. Studies by the University of California estimate that at least 80 percent of harvesters are in the country without proper immigration permits.

The students, many of them born in this country, walked peacefully and mostly stayed on the sidewalks.

Joe Bettencourt, a telephone operator on disability, clapped as the teens marched by East Alisal and Monterey streets, where he stopped to watch them.

"I think people should live where they want to live," the 58-year-old resident of Monterey said. "I don't agree with what they're trying to do, criminalize people. If people wouldn't hire them, they wouldn't be here."

Not everyone seemed supportive of the students. A woman walking into the post office seemed upset at the sight of students not in school.

"I pay taxes for them to be educated, and this is what they're doing with my money?" the woman said. She declined to give her name.

Leticia Salgado, mother of a student in high school and one in college, said she didn't have any problem with using her tax dollars for the children to march.

"The taxes are from all of us, and we want to be treated like human beings," the 40-year-old woman said. "They are trying to make their voices heard, and they're representing themselves and their parents."

School officials said they did not see this coming, and Salinas Union High School District Superintendent Roger Anton said what the students did was illegal.

"It's considered a truancy issue," he said. "When they return to school, they will have to answer for their absence and truancy."

The students wanted to go to City Hall, but seemed confused which way to go. When they arrived at the Monterey County Courthouse, they momentarily flooded the courtyard. Then, at the beckoning of students who knew that was not where they wanted to go, they returned to the streets.

Although Alisal High principal John Ramirez followed the students in a sport utility vehicle, there were no teachers involved in the march.

At West Alisal and Central, they almost lost their way again, as a breakaway group tried to head toward Salinas High. In the end, they all walked around the block toward City Hall.

Outside the Salinas City Hall Rotunda, next to the Police Department, the students held an impromptu rally.

Salinas Police Chief Daniel Ortega was watching through the glass doors of City Hall.

"My main issue is that they don't disturb people's quality of life," he said. "I don't know how they got out of school. Other than that, they are exercising their rights."

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Herald question of the day Should allowing guest workers be part of the federal immigration bill? o Yes |o No | o No opinion Go to: montereyherald.com to place your vote Herald surveys are unscientific

Monterey Herald staff writer George B. Sanchez contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Monterey County Herald (Monterey, Calif.)

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