Illegal Alien Unrest

[Ryan Ruck]

I have a lot of articles and photos to post on this subject but, I don't have the time right now. I just wanted to get this thread started for discussion.

Needless to say, most of us here are probably not surprised by what we are seeing now. We have been singing this tune for quite some time. This is just the beginning…




"I want to remind people that family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River." -- President Bush, Presidential Press Conference, January 26, 2005

[Sean Osborne]

And I want to remind President George W. Bush that

SOVEREIGNTY

begins and ends at the Rio Grande River just as it does at the St. Laurence on our northern frontier. It is his sworn oath of office to ensure and enforce this fact of life.

[Segestan]

Sovereignty.... has been sold to Globalism. In the modern world, of Internationalist has it's roots firmly supported in the pockets of business'. ' It's Good for Business... Mom and pop , Wal-Mart , and down on the Farms .Cheap labor has always been coveted, it does not matter what party has the throne.
The topic of immigration has become an issue that will over time, through heated ideas of morality and business profiteering lead, will lead to a separation throughout the west of What it means to be a Free peoples.Tolerance is based on financial stability. The Achilles heal of America, as well many other nations, is the -need- of Globalism. Trade is a much important element of a nations sovereignty but trade for sheer profit and bleeding of currency and moral fiber of a nations peoples will be the end of that peoples as a Free nation. There's no turning back immigration now. It will be financial colapse , civil war and or an invasion by a foreign power.

regards,

[Ryan Ruck]

I thought I'd give this a few days to see how it played out in the press…

As expected, with today's society's short attention span, it died quickly to be replaced with the next "big story". It doesn't bode well when we so quickly forget about what was/is essentially insurrection within our borders.

So, I'm going to rekindle it! First with some images…

[Ryan Ruck]

Latinos Plan Nationwide Worker Strike

Hispanic groups in the U.S. are planning a major boycott of American life dubbed a �day without Latinos� to protest proposed legislation that would criminalize illegal immigration.

Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) President Nativo Lopez, one of the organizers of the recent protests in Los Angeles that saw at least 500,000 people take to the streets, said the May 1 "day without Latinos� would send a stern message to Washington.

"We are looking forward to a major action in all large U.S. cities where immigrants make up a significant proportion of the workforce,� Lopez told Agence France-Presse.

"We are asking people not to go to school, or work, or shopping, and instead to go out and protest against the racist and inhumane measures in this bill.�

MAPA and other grass roots Latino groups are also organizing an April 10 protest in 20 major American cities – including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas – in a bid to defeat the proposed immigration reform bill, Lopez said.

And a third day of protest is scheduled to take place Saturday in Costa Mesa, a town in Orange County, Calif., that has been a focus of anti-illegal immigrant protests for the past several months.

The city’s mayor has pushed a proposal through the city council to train police to nab and deport illegal aliens who commit crimes.

Said Lopez: "We are going there to make a tough statement right in the bedrock of the anti-immigrant movement.�

Perhaps not surprisingly, May 1 is also known as "May Day," the International Worker's Day, which is infamously celebrated in Moscow's Red Square and by communists and socialists throughout the world.

[Ryan Ruck]

John McCain Praises Pro-Illegal Protests

Sen. John McCain is praising the recent wave of pro-illegal immigration demonstrations, saying that if the protesters hang tough they will succeed in forcing Congress to liberalize immigration laws.

"If such demonstrations continue, I think we will have a bill for the President to sign soon," the Arizona Republican told a New York City gathering on Friday sponsored by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.

"The more debate, the more demonstrations, the more likely we will prevail," McCain added, in quotes picked up by the New York Daily News.

The Irish group backs the McCain-Kennedy bill that would allow illegal aliens already in the U.S. to stay and work toward citizenship.

McCain offered the comments as the city girded for its first major pro-illegal rally - a march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday that ended in lower Manhattan.

Despite the Arizona Republican's support, marchers on Saturday sounded decidedly anti-GOP.

"We are fed up," said Humberto Suarezmotta, a former professor from Colombia, told the News.

"Since the Mayflower, immigrants have been coming here and now we have Republicans who are against minorities."

"The people united will never be defeated!" other demonstrators chanted in Spanish. "We're not going, but Bush can leave!"

[Ryan Ruck]

Invading Army: Aztlan Arising at 'La Gran Marcha'

“La Gran Marcha”, held in Los Angeles on March 26, got rave reviews by Ernesto Cienfuegos, of La Voz de Aztlan:

“Never has the ‘City of Angels’ seen so many demonstrations filling the streets of the city’s center. The sleeping giant has finally awaken to give rise to a new immigrant civil rights movement of unprecedented proportions.”

“….What does the immense success of ‘La Gran Marcha’ mean to Mexicanos and other Latinos? It simply means that we now have the numbers, the political will and the organizational skills to direct our own destinies and not be subservient to the White and Jewish power structures. It means that we can now undertake bigger and more significant mass actions to achieve total political and economic liberation like that being proposed by Juan Jose Gutierrez, President of Moviemento Latino USA. Juan Jose Gutierrez is proposing that the coalition that organized ‘La Gran Marcha’ meet in Arizona or Texas on April 8 to ‘organize a mass boycott (huelga) against the economy of the USA’ to take place on May 5 or 19”.

Is this Gutierrez, founder of the La Raza Unida political party, the same who declared: “We have an aging white America…They are dying…..We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him”. Is it now when the “worst” is coming to the “worst” or sometime later?

“A major reason for the great success of ‘La Gran Marcha’ was the strong participation of labor unions and the Catholic Church. If the racist ‘Sensenbrenner Legislation’ passes the US Senate, there is no doubt that a massive civil disobedience movement will emerge. Eventually labor union power can merge with the immigrant civil rights and ‘Immigrant Sanctuary’ movements to enable us to either form a new political party or to do heavy duty reforming of the existing Democratic Party. The next and final steps would follow and that is to elect our own governors of all the states within Aztlan”.

“……Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villagairosa, a Los Angeles Unified School District victim himself before he turned his life around, is already undertaking a bold move to wrestle control of the district from a Jewish dominated school board and a White superintendent that are just fleecing the schools of much needed funds………..Jews have their own private schools so why are 5 Jews out of 7 school board members interested in governing the school district? The answer is all too obvious. La Voz Aztlan has interviewed LAUSD teachers that complained they have to buy, with their own money, pencils, paper and other school supplies that the district should provide. Something has to be done and Mayor Villaraigosa is on the right track.”

A La Voz de La Aztlan editorial, found on its website, entitled “La Raza and Jews on Collision Course in Alta California”, mentions a tension between Hispanics and Jews in a power struggle for political domination. It says that although Jews are only 3% of population, their influence far outweighs their numbers.

On the same website is found the Nation of Aztlan, Ministry of Information.

An article from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “On the Palestinian-Jewish Issue”,

compares the Palestinians who “live under Jewish domination” to La Raza (the Race) under the Anglo domination. It repeats the anti-Jewish sentiments used to

discredit Jewish contributions to the United States. Those in this country who insist on abiding by the law and demand people enter legally, are called “racist”. This website proves that the La Voz de Aztlan is hypocritical when it does so. Its venom directed at Jews is entirely racist.

Of interest is a map of the United States showing the population of Hispanics. Because it is concentrated mainly in the South and West half of the United States, a line is drawn for the Nation of Aztlan. It is more ambitious than some seen before, as it encompasses Idaho to the North and Texas to the South and everything to the West of these states.

“We thank the many marchers for the sacrifice they made on Saturday. Many came from as far as San Diego and San Francisco. They came on buses, trains, trucks, RV’s, motorcycles and autos…….They all came to Los Angeles and made history. This great city will never be the same”.

So much for assimilation. This is a call for domination. The contempt for our society is not veiled. The only acceptable solution for La Voz Aztlan is domination of the political apparatus of Los Angeles. This group is one of several calling for the return of the southwest states of the U.S. to Mexico. They claim that the U.S. stole that territory from them and they want it back.

There is the call for an end to being subservient to the White and Jewish power structures. Thus do they foment unrest and anarchy in the streets. Cienfuegos blames all the ills of the school district on Jews on the school board, who he insinuates are withholding funds or mismanaging funds because teachers have to buy school supplies. This is happening all over the country, not just where Jews dominate the school board. The huge influx of illegal aliens into our schools has drained the normal resources to the point that there is no money for supplies in some cases. Instead of being grateful to the citizens of this country for educating their kids, at great expense to citizen taxpayers, they cast aspersions and foment anger at the school boards who are trying desperately to manage on the money given them. These school board positions are mostly unpaid positions and held by people genuinely devoted to the education of children.

Cienfuegas gives credit for the success of the march to labor unions and the Catholic Church. The labor unions are hoping to swell their ranks, get more dues payers, which translates into more power. The Catholic Church, claiming it heeds a higher law, has said, through Cardinal Mahony, that it will direct priests to disobey any strict legislation, and says it will continue the “aiding and abetting” of illegal aliens in this country. It, too, has a vested interest in seeing as many illegal aliens as possible stay here. Their pews are getting empty and they need new parishioners. The Catholic Church, through its charities, for instance, receives 67% of its money from the government in the form of state, local and federal grants, which gives it a huge amount to spend on “faith based initiatives”. With its pronounced favoritism to illegal aliens, it’s not hard to see where a lot of that money goes.

Many of the participants of “La Gran Marcha” were carrying foreign flags. The predominant ones were Mexican. This showed a solidarity with a foreign country. One of the biggest boosters was not mentioned. Mexico’s Presidente Vincente Fox has stated that he will not allow a strong immigrant reform bill to stand. He protested loudly about the sensible Sensenbrenner bill. He has sent emissaries to Washington to inject himself into the deliberations going on there. He hired an American advertising company to shill for him and present Mexico in the best possible light. Mexico, on the other hand, is very strict about foreign countries interfering in their affairs, and the sort of lobbying Mexico is doing here would never be allowed in that country.

“This great city will never be the same.” Indeed. If the American people do not make their will known to their senators poised to give several million illegal aliens amnesty, this great country will never be the same, either.

[Ryan Ruck]

Illegal Immigrants and the Leftist/Marxist-Islamist Alliance

On March 25, 2005 A.N.S.W.E.R.–Act Now To Stop The War & End Racism organized the demonstration in Los Angeles demanding Amnesty for Illegal immigrants. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition believes that the struggle for immigrant rights, workers' rights and the fight against racism at home must be part and parcel of the struggle against war and imperialism. In the coming days and weeks, A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers, volunteers and activists will continue to participate in all levels of the mass movement in defense of immigrant rights and the defeat of the Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437). A.N.S.W.E.R. says to Congress and all the anti-immigrant racists that "No Human Being is Illegal!"


The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition provided logistical support and mobilized for the demonstration in Los Angeles. Thousands of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s yellow and black placards reading "AmnistÃÂ*a, Full Rights for All Immigrants" were held throughout the march. A.N.S.W.E.R. also distributed tens of thousands of leaflets, gathered thousands of signatures on a petition demanding "Full Rights for All Immigrants" and organized a major contingent in the march.

Who is the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition



In order to understand the significance of this demonstration, it is necessary to understand who are the organizations represented in A.N.S.W.E.R. and what other causes they have sponsored.

A.N.S.W.E.R., is an organization bringing together the alliance.The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition formed on September 14, 2001. It is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and prominent individuals and scores of organizing centers in cities and towns across the country. Its national steering committee represents major national organizations that have campaigned against U.S. intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia, and organizations that have campaigned for civil rights and for social and economic justice for working and poor people inside the United States.


Steering Committee

• IFCO/Pastors for Peace
  
• Free Palestine Alliance â€â€� United States
  
• Haiti Support Network
  
• Partnership for Civil Justice - LDEF
  
• Nicaragua Network
  
• Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
  
• Korea Truth Commission
  
  
• Muslim Student Association - National
  
• Kensington Welfare Rights Union
  
• Mexico Solidarity Network
  
• Party for Socialism and Liberation
  
• Middle East Children's Alliance
  

On March 17, 2006, Lee Kaplan writing in Front Page Magazine on "The Divestment Conference at Georgetown" sponsored by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). "The Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) is merely the name used by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the United States. He reported that at the conference, which he attended that "The International Solidarity Movement is not a separate movement. I have a recording of its founder, Adam Shapiro, at the Ohio State conference, stating the PSM and ISM are the same organization. All are funded through Middle East Children’s Alliance in Berkeley. The Palsolidarity website says to make donations out to ISM USA and attending groups at this conference are named ISM-New York, ISM Washington and Norcal ISM." I concluded. "The ISM has been linked to terrorism and that is why you do want the affiliation recognized.""


From the e-Zion Commentary a description of the Palestine Solidarity Movement emerges. Following are quotations from this site. "The Palestine Solidarity Movement meeting held at Georgetown University offered a fascinating and horrifying spectacle it seems. You could watch subversion and evil at work, genocide prepared while you wait. Allyson Rowen Taylor attended the conference as an observer for the American Jewish Congress. Her notes are "must reading" if you want to comprehend the magnitude of the evil contemplated by these people and to understand the purpose, the mechanism and the approach. Briefly, the idea is to annihilate Israel as a Jewish state. The strategies adopted for doing it are boycotts and divestment campaigns that isolate Israel and cast it in the role of apartheid South Africa. Do I exaggerate? Here is Mohamed Abed:


Divestment and Boycott have a successful precedent in South Africa. Isolation of cultural spheres in the intellectual community will help isolate Israel. Jews must be prepared for a future in Palestine. There will be no division of the land...

Make sure they understand that divestment and boycott should be implemented, and this is a unifying factor for activists. This should be stressed, that this in not just a Palestinian cause, but for all of us who believe in multiculturalism. This is very attractive to liberals, and engaging. The situation is now at a standstill, and this is a last vestige of hope.


This plan for the destruction and submersion of the entire Jewish people in Israel, the annihilation of Israel’s national existence, is announced under the heading of multiculturalism and liberal values. The tactics are masterful. None other than V. I. Lenin wrote "The Book" on subversion of this sort over 100 years ago, in articles like "What is to be done?" Then Mao Tse-Tung rewrote it. These people have studied every page of those books. They added the "Look Legit" tactic of the USA Mafia."

A.N.S.W.E.R’s Anti-Israel Connections

The Committee for Accuracy in the Middle East Reporting in America in their article "The Anti-Iraq War Movement's Anti-Israel ANSWER" provided interesting insight to some of issues. Following are excerpts from the article. "On Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. late last summer posters affixed to street light poles and utility boxes promoted a Sept. 24, 2005 anti-Iraq war rally." They carried three big, black headlines: "Stop the War in Iraq"; "End Colonialist Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti"; and "Support the Palestinian People's Right of Return."


"To understand those roots, one must consider the main organizers of the Sept. 24 rally, represented by a coalition calling itself United for Peace and Justice, and International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER). According to Washington Times reporter James G. Lakely ("War protestors linked to radical left-wing groups," Sept. 22, 2005), UPJ was "founded by liberals who say they were concerned about the radical tactics and smorgasbord of issues trumpeted by ANSWER" in the latter's previous anti-war efforts."

Examples of ANSWER's involvement in the Palestinian issue include:

• A Hezbollah flag fluttered from the speakers' podium at ANSWER's National March for Palestine, Against War and Racism, April 20, 2002 in Washington, D.C.
  
• In December 2002, ANSWER delegates attended the first anti-Zionist International Cairo Conference, at which the organization reportedly solidified its support for the destruction of Israel. The conference issued a declaration "Against U.S. Hegemony and War and In Solidarity with Palestine."
  
  
• "Never Forget the Palestinians" and "Free Palestine: Stop U.S. Aid to Israeli Terror," signs were displayed at ANSWER's anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., March 15, 2003. Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesting was prominent at several ANSWER anti-war assemblies that day.
  
• In 2003, ANSWER delegates attended the second International Cairo Conference at which hundreds of Arab and other international "activists" supported "acts of resistance in Iraq and Palestine." ANSWER representatives meet with Osama Hamdan, a Hamas leader in Lebanon.
  
• "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Hamas will never go!" and "Long live jihad!" crowd members chanted at an "emergency rally" outside the Israeli consulate in New York City, co-sponsored by ANSWER and pro-Palestinian Al-Awda and New Jersey Solidarity.
  
• The March 23, 2004 demonstration followed the assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmad Yasin.

UPJ, which eventually tolerated "a big overlap" in the Sept. 24, 2005 protests and comprises many groups.

ANSWER was formed on Sept. 14, 2001; three days after al Qaeda terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 Americans by flying two jetliners into New York City's World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon in Washington, and crashing a fourth in rural Pennsylvania. Its 12-member organizational steering committee included the Free Palestine Alliance, Muslim Student Association of the U.S. and Canada, and the Middle East Children's Alliance.

The alliance with the Illegal immigrants needs to be taken seriously.

In an article by Cinnamon Stillwell and Lee Kaplan on ChronWatch "A crowd of around 10,000 protesters gathered in San Francisco on Saturday, September 24, 2005 allegedly to express their displeasure with the war in Iraq. But it wasn’t Iraq this rally was really about, but rather radical leftist and anarchist politics manifested by a hatred for America and Israel, and, of course, a chance to rail against the supposed evils of capitalism."

"This was fitting given the two main groups, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice (UPJ), that organized the event. For those in the know, those are front groups for communist/socialist organizations that promote the totalitarian and terrorist enemies of the United States. ANSWER has provided human shields to keep Saddam Hussein in power and has links to North Korea, Cuba, the PLO and its Ba’ath Party allies. The leader of United for Peace and Justice is Leslie Cagan.


Cinnamon Stillwell and Lee Kaplan further writing in Front Page on September 27, 2005 "A Day at the Zoo" describes the Radical Left. "The radical Left is successful at organizing these events because they use "solidarity" to plan their desired revolution. There are divisions over how the immigrants, anarchists, Islamists and communists could join to mainstream pacifists, but the goal is the same to employ as (in Lenin’s term) "useful idiots" in order to swell the ranks. Cinnamon Stillwell also wrote an excellent article on George Galloway and San Francisco on her website, "Mr. Galloway Goes to San Francisco." Politics makes strange bedfellows, stranger still, when the odd couple is the fundamentalist Islam and the secular Left."

The evolving Leftist/Marxist - Islamist Alliance (Black-Red Alliance) is growing in France, Germany and Belgium. But based on the successful British model, it is now going global to declare war on the "War on Terror."

These are among the organizations sponsoring and organizing the demonstrations for Amnesty for Illegal immigrants. However, political dimensions seeking favor with the Hispanic vote may trump the reality of who is really behind the Illegal immigrant push for Amnesty. When 500,000 Hispanics protest in Los Angeles against making illegal entry a felony, the potential electoral consequences suggest themselves. Newsweek quotes Sen. Mel Martinez, R-FL, as saying, "Republicans have made significant gains [among Latinos] and we're risking all of that by allowing ourselves to be positioned as anti-immigrant...We are at great peril." Have the Administration and Democrats failed to recognize the organizers (A.N.S.W.E.R) of the Los Angeles protest are supporters of a New World Order.

[Ryan Ruck]

Illegal Aliens: Just Mobbing the Streets Americans Won't Mob

To the astonishment and delight of the news media, Saturday saw an unprecedented protest by an estimated 500,000 illegal aliens and their advocates in Los Angeles. Smaller rallies were held in cities across the country, opposing efforts to secure the border and finally crack down on illegal entry into America by millions of unscreened foreigners. Apparently, the protests prove what a “divisive” issue illegal immigration is. To me, they simply prove that criminals dislike the prospect of increased law enforcement.

But that’s not all the protests prove. They also prove how ridiculously out of control our federal government has let the problem get. Which is worse -- that a half million immigration criminals and their descendants and sympathizers can be found in a single American city, or that the current immigration enforcement system is such a joke that the half million have nothing to fear from openly entering the public streets and arguing against legislation currently before Congress?

It’s as if thieves thought they could form a union to lobby for fewer cops.

Sadly, many in Congress will actually consider their demands. You know, just like Mexico would consider the wishes of any American criminals in their country for profit.

But mostly the throngs showed how poorly we are assimilating the unprecedented numbers of migrants we have received in this generation. The need to limit immigration to numbers that can be properly assimilated has always been one of the main arguments against tolerating illegal immigration, and this weekend’s pro-illegal-immigration protests did much, ironically, to support that argument.

Many of the symptoms of failure to assimilate were obvious. The colossal crowd, allegedly gathered to tout their pursuit of the “American Dream”, held signs in Spanish, waved mostly Mexican flags, and chanted “Mexico! Mexico!” and “Si se puede!” (Yes we can!). Which is, it seems, an answer to the formerly rhetorical question, “Can the whole world sneak into America?” There was also the predictable invocation of race and ethnicity that is supposed to obligate American Hispanics to side with the illegal aliens, at least in the nationalistic eyes of the illegals themselves.

But there was a subtler symptom of how unassimilated the protesters were: the quintessentially foreign form of the protest itself.

Due to its size, the protest shocked the American media. A wave of 500,000 people pouring through Los Angeles is one of the largest protests in the history of the whole country. Thus, the protests have been reported as an extraordinary reaction to events in American politics. But they are not extraordinary at all. They are just the typical way that governments are influenced in many Latin American nations.

What the protests truly represent is the colonization of America by the Latin style of politics. Rally, demonstration, march and protest are the tools of the politically dispossessed. They carry with them the intrinsic threat that is always associated with the gathering of large crowds in acts of political demonstration. And they are standard fair in the lopsided politics of many foreign nations, including Mexico.

Consider the following recent examples, all from the BBC World service coverage of Mexico:

April 24, 2005: “Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through Mexico City in support of the capital's embattled mayor…”

September 13, 2001: “Union leaders in Mexico say they expect thousands of people to take to the streets on Thursday in protest at plans to impose taxes on some foods and medicines.”

March 17, 2006: “Most of the demonstrations in Mexico City remained peaceful, however, with the violence blamed on a small number of radical youths.”

March 19, 1999: “Tens of thousands of demonstrators brought the centre of Mexico City to a standstill on Thursday in a protest against government economic policies.”

June 28, 2004: “Mexican President Vicente Fox has said his government has failed to defeat violent crime, after a protest in Mexico City by over 250,000 people.”

November 28, 2003: “Tens of thousands of people have marched through Mexico City to protest against energy and tax reforms...”

January 31, 2003: “Thousands of farmers gathered in the Mexican capital to demand their government renegotiate a regional trade pact...”

August 28, 1999: “Thousands of demonstrators have taken part in a march in Mexico City to protest against government plans to allow private investment in the state-owned electric power industry.”

Viewed in this light, one can see that the protests are not unusual at all -- for a Latin American nation. And it is an unassimilated colony of Latin America that twenty years of corrupt government inaction on illegal immigration has built in Los Angeles and Phoenix and Chicago and Houston and dozens of other cities and towns across America, both large and small.

For demographic reasons, the examples I gave above were drawn exclusively from Mexico, but similar patterns of political protest as the default means of lobbying government can be found in Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, and other Latin American nations. They are standard fare, and institutionalized in the culture of the region.

In the United States, we write letters to the editor and vote and debate. In the Latin world, people march and rally and muster their numbers before the eyes of government.

What we saw this weekend was not extraordinary. It is the new normal. It is the predictable and unimpeded flow of the political culture of Latin America into the United States.

And unless we address the gaping hole in our border, enforce our laws, deport illegal entrants, and again assimilate legitimate immigrants into our unique culture, you can count on the United States becoming more Latin American, and less American, every day.

[Ryan Ruck]

Illegal Alien Marches Warmly Supported In Mexico

They've been marching in the streets of our cities clamoring for "justice."

Throughout the land, they march - Denver, Sacramento, Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Phoenix and so on.

Their cause - fighting for the "rights" of illegal aliens and keeping our borders open.

The biggest march of all was March 25th in Los Angeles, Calif., where police estimated the multitude's numbers at 500,000: Half a million people.

That's impressive. Should we therefore give these people everything they want? Many of our politicians seem to think so.

The U.S. Constitution, however, doesn't include street protest as a form of legislation. In fact, the men who drafted our constitution were not fond of what they called "mobocracy." As James Madison put it in Federalist Paper #55, "Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob."

Many of the demonstrators are illegal aliens themselves. In other words, they don't even have the right to be in the country, yet they're telling us how to run things. That's chutzpah.

Their defenders assure us that illegal aliens are "living in the shadows."

It doesn't look to me like the people in the L.A. street march were living in the shadows. They were out in broad daylight, marching openly, without fear, dictating to us what our immigration law should be.

Some of them carried signs that read, "If you think I'm ‘illegal' because I'm a Mexican learn the true history because I'm in my homeland."

Indeed, Mexican nationalism, ethnic chauvinism and downright racism were in evidence among L.A. protestors.

Why did so many display the Mexican flag if they are fighting for rights in the United States?

There were protestors with posters reading "Chicano Power" and "This is stolen land." Another poster bore the likeness of Mexican historical figure Emiliano Zapata with the slogan, "Viva Mexico."

Here in Mexico, where I (legally) reside, the L.A. march was called a "Megamarcha" and was warmly reported in the media.

But don't think for a second that Mexico would allow the same sort of nonsense to occur here. Mexico respects her sovereignty too much for that. Even we legal gringos are not allowed to participate in protest marches. In 2002, a number of Americans were immediately expelled for doing just that.

The Mexican Constitution's famous Article 33 gives the Mexican government the right to expel immediately, without right of appeal, any non-Mexican whose presence in the country is "deemed inconvenient."

But when illegal alien Mexicans march in the United States, that's considered a great thing.

In solidarity, a group of demonstrators (some carrying communist party banners) erected a cardboard wall in front of the U.S. Embassy, inscribing it with anti-American slogans.

In the Mexican Congress, it was announced that a document would be drafted, to show support for the protest marches in our country.

Ruben Aguilar, spokesman for President Vicente Fox, made this statement to support the marches: "The recent protests carried out in different places in the United States are indicative of the imminent necessity of a migratory accord that corresponds to the interests of both countries, and that especially to the defense of the rights of migrants. The government of the (Mexican) Republic ratifies its commitment to the Mexicans who live in the United States and its intention to work in the defense of their rights ..."

None of this is surprising. The L.A. protestors and the Mexican government share the same goals: legalize Mexican illegal aliens and keep the borders open.

The Mexican government sees it as a way to relieve economic pressure on the government to reform the economy. Mexico's leaders also work to retain the loyalty of emigrants so that, even if they become American citizens, they retain their loyalty to Mexico. And their plan is working.

Recently the Mexican government published advertisements in leading American newspapers calling for the legalization of illegal immigrants (in the United States, not in Mexico) and "a far-reaching guest workers scheme." Not only that, said the ads, but "in order for a (U.S.) guest workers program to be viable, Mexico should participate in its design, management, supervision and evaluation."

In other words, the Mexican government wants veto power over U.S. immigration policy.

And they might just get it.

After all, many in our own government are only too happy to oblige them.

[Ryan Ruck]

Immigration Legislation Sends Protesters To City Streets

Demonstrations held in Arizona, California, Georgia and Wisconsin

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Thousands of people across the country protested Friday against legislation cracking down on illegal immigrants, with demonstrators in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta staging school walkouts, marches and work stoppages.

Congress is considering bills that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and erect fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. The proposals have angered many Hispanics.

The Los Angeles demonstration led to fights between black and Hispanic students at one high school, but the protests were largely peaceful, authorities said.

Chantal Mason, a sophomore at George Washington Preparatory High, said black students started a scuffle with Hispanic students as they left classes to take part in a protest.

"It was horrible, horrible," Mason said. "It's ridiculous that a bunch of black students would jump on Latinos like that, knowing they're trying to get their freedom."

One black and one Hispanic student interceded to calm their classmates and help restore order, said Los Angeles district spokeswoman Monica Carazo.

In Phoenix, police said 20,000 demonstrators marched to the office of Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, co-sponsor of a bill that would give illegal immigrants up to five years to leave the country.

The turnout clogged major thoroughfares in what officials said was one of the largest protests in the city's history. People also protested outside Kyl's Tucson office.

Kyl pointed out that most were speaking out against the House bill making it a felony to be an illegal immigrant, not his bill, which would also step up border enforcement and create a temporary guest-worker program.

"They [protesters] should be pleased that the Senate is probably going to address this in a much more comprehensive way," Kyl told the Tucson Citizen newspaper during a meeting with its editorial board.

In Los Angeles, more than 2,700 students from at least eight high schools and junior high schools walked out, district officials said. Some carried Mexican flags as they walked down the streets, police cruisers behind them.

Some of the students visited other high schools, trying to encourage additional students to join their protest, but some schools were locked down to keep students from leaving, Carazo said.

In Georgia, activists said tens of thousands of workers did not show up at their jobs Friday after calls for a work stoppage to protest a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.

That bill, which has yet to gain Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.

Supporters say the Georgia measure is vital to homeland security and frees up limited state services for people legally entitled to them. Opponents say it unfairly targets workers meeting the demands of some of the state's largest industries.

Teodoro Maus, an organizer of the Georgia protest, estimated as many as 80,000 Hispanics did not show up for work. About 200 converged on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, some wrapped in Mexican flags and holding signs reading: "Don't panic, we're Hispanic" and "We have a dream, too."

Jennifer Garcia worried what would the proposal would do to her family. She said her husband is an illegal Mexican immigrant.

"If they send him back to Mexico, who's going to take care of them and me?" Garcia said of herself and her four children. "This is the United States. We need to come together and be a whole."

In Cleveland, about 100 protesters stood on the City Hall steps, waving Mexican flags and holding signs written in English and Spanish, and calling on Congress to create laws that respect immigrants as workers.

"This bill is anti-American," said David Quintan, 57, of Chile, who has lived in the United States for 30 years. "It's discriminatory not only to Latinos but to all immigrants. They're coming to work, not to steal or do terrorism. We are just workers."

[Ryan Ruck]

Fort Worth Students Take Protest Downtown

About 150 Polytechnic High Schools students marched away from campus early Tuesday to protest proposed federal immigration legislation, and scores of students on other campuses in Tarrant County soon followed.

The Polytechnic students said school officials told them it would be OK for them to demonstrate before classes Tuesday morning around the perimeter of the campus, located in southeast Fort Worth.

The demonstration began about 7:45 a.m., with students chanting "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” or "the people united will never be defeated.”

The crowd of students started onto Vickery Boulevard and moved west toward downtown, reaching Interstate 35 at about 9:15 a.m.

"The kids are too energized,” said Reyna Martinez, 17, a junior who helped organize the protest. "A lot of us made it across the border, so we’re going to make it across the bridge.”

Reports of similar walkouts in Fort Worth surfaced at around 11 a.m., but not all of them were immediately confirmed. However, similar protests were occurring in Dallas, Arlington and Irving. A student demonstration Monday in Dallas made national headlines.

Glynna Torres, principal at South Hills High School, said students started leaving her campus around 10:45 a.m.

"What I’m hearing is that kids in the high schools are text messaging one another and (they) are walking out at the same time,” Torres said.

She added that school district officials told principals that there would be walkouts on Tuesday, and advised them how to handle them.

"It’s a peaceful demonstration and we’re not going to confront the students,” Torres said. "It’s an unexcused absence from school, if they come back to class, and that’s about it.”

In Arlington, hundreds of students also walked out of public high schools to protest the immigration bill that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally, school officials said.

Students from Arlington, Bowie, Sam Houston and Martin high schools walked out of their classrooms at various times this morning.

Arlington police were working to control the crowds and keep the students safe as they marched. Officers blocked traffic on major streets, such as Cooper, so protesters could cross safely, police said.

There was no police estimate immediately available as to the size of the protest.

At Sam Houston, students apparently were handing out fliers encouraging others to join the walk out, school officials said, adding that students who protested and did not return to school will be given an unexcused absence.

At 11:30 a.m., a group of about 400 students, mostly from Sam Houston High School and Carter and Hutchison junior highs, had congregated at Arlington High School’s football field. They walked out of class about 9:20 a.m.

Police and school officials were working to get the students onto buses to be taken back to class, police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said.

Police had put detectives and sergeants from investigations units on alert and had them change into their uniforms in case they were needed for emergency crowd control, Gilfour said. City crews were also alerted they might be needed. But there had been no reports of any crime or fights, Gilfour said.

"They are very peaceful," Gilfour said. "The most important thing was that we were able to get a handle on this early on."

The Polytechnic protesters were marching around City Hall at about 9:45 a.m.

The group was escorted by police and school administrators as it moved west. Some students said they had permission from their parents to participate in the demonstration.

Some of them said suspension from school "isn’t as bad as being deported.”

At about 10 a.m., Martinez stopped marching, spoke briefly with two police officers and then gathered fellow students around her. She announced that they had made their point and it was time to go back to school.

"You guys, this is good enough,” she yelled. "We don’t want to turn this into a riot or anything stupid.

"Guys, now we have to prove to them that we’re smart enough and willing to accept a good education to become better people, to support our people.”

Martinez shook hands with the officers and with her fellow protesters, reversed course and orderly headed away from City Hall. Three school buses were pulled up to drive the students back to school, and a few of them got on board.

Most of them, however, chose to walk.

"I figure if we’re good enough to walk up here, we’re good enough to walk back to get our educations,” Martinez said.

By late morning, a group of Polytechnic and Paschal students headed to Trimble Tech, where they gathered. Students flowed out of the school, four to five at a time, through the front exits. As the students exited, the group filled the street in front of the school.

Police cordoned off much of the road leading to the school.

The group, estimated at about 500, crossed Pennsylvania Avenue heading east, and then headed north on Hemphill Street. A smaller group of about 200 students walked behind them with a Mexican flag. Fort Worth officers rode slowly behind and beside them in police cruisers.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do. I think we’re heading downtown,” said Adrian Villanueva, a ninth-grader at Polytechnic.

Driving behind the groups were several cars with students inside. About ten students were seen riding in the back of a Chevrolet pickup truck.

Fifteen others were riding in the back of a Ford pickup behind the protestors. A police officer pulled that truck over and told the kids to get out, but did not issue a citation.

[Ryan Ruck]

At Least 14,000 LA Students Walk Out In Immigration Law Protest

At least 14,000 mostly Hispanic students stormed out of school classes across Los Angeles in a snowballing protest against Washington's plans for a draconian crackdown on illegal immigration.

Local news reports said that "tens of thousands of students" were taking part in the protest that was spreading through schools across the country's second largest city ahead of a US Senate debate on a divisive immigration reform bill.

"At least 14,000 students are protesting in the streets in Los Angeles city alone," Monica Carazo, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District told AFP.

The latest protest came after one of the biggest protests in recent US history Saturday when more than 500,000 people marched in Los Angeles against the immigration reform bill that would make it a felony criminal offence to be in the United States illegally.

Smaller protests took place in a number of cities around the country as well over the weekend and on Monday against the draft laws.

Los Angeles pupils pursued the protest Monday by walking out of class in at least 21 schools across the city and its surrounding areas, prompting education officials to lock down some campuses to keep the angry students inside.

But they leaped fences and marched through streets brandishing US and Mexican flags and chanting slogans against the immigration bill.

"If we don't leave school today, half of the school who don't have papers will have to leave soon if this law passes, and they won't come back, ever," shouted Huntington Park High School student Anita Benitez.

The Los Angeles Police Department put officers on a "city-wide tactical alert" as a precaution because of the wave of protests that included a crowd of at least 1,500 students who were demonstrating outside city hall.

The protests target a bill, already passed by the US House of Representatives, that would crack down on employers hiring illegal workers and people smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.

The bill would also require employers to verify social security numbers with the Department of Homeland Security, beef up penalties for immigrant smuggling and stiffen penalties for undocumented immigrants who reenter the United States after having been removed.

At least 11 million illegal immigrants, most of them from neighbouring Mexico, live in the United States and are responsible for keeping the human machinery of US cities humming.

[Ryan Ruck]

Marchers Say Gringos, Not Illegals, Have To Go

Activists turn tables, offer no amnesty for 'non-indigenous' on 'our continent'

WASHINGTON – While debates about guest-worker programs for illegal aliens take place in the corridors of power, in the streets of America's big cities no amnesty is being offered by activists calling for the expulsion of most U.S. citizens from their own country.

While politicians debate the fate of some 12 million people residing in the U.S. illegally, the Mexica Movement, one of the organizers of the mass protest in Los Angeles this week, has already decided it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent."

The pictures and captions tell the story.

- "This is our continent, not yours!" exclaimed one banner.

- "We are indigenous! The only owners of this continent!" said another.

- "If you think I'm illegal because I'm a Mexican, learn the true history, because I'm in my homeland," read another sign.

"One of the more negative parts of the march was when American flags were passed out to make sure the marchers were looked on as part of 'America,'" said the group's commentary on the L.A. rally.

Both Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a proponent of tougher border security, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were caricatured as Nazis by the group on its posters and banners.

The group insists the indigenous people of the continent were the victims of genocide – a campaign of extermination that killed, according to one citation, 95 percent of their population, or 33 million people. Another citation on the same website claims the toll was 70 million to 100 million.

The only solution, says the Mexica Movement, is to expel the invaders of the last 500 years, force them to pay reparations and return the continent to its rightful heirs.

The platform of the group illustrates the diverse – and sometimes extreme – agendas of those participating in the mass mobilizations that have been seen largely as protests against efforts to curb illegal immigration.

Some of those involved, including the Mexica Movement, have much bigger goals than stopping a piece of legislation before Congress.

The Mexica Movement has big issues with many other equally radical groups participating in the massive, united-front rallies. The group makes a point of distinguishing its goals and objectives from others, such as the separatist Aztlan Movement.

Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs, is regarded in Chicano folklore as an area that includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas. The movement seeks to create a sovereign, Spanish-speaking state, "Republica del Norte," or the Republic of the North, that would combine the American Southwest with the northern Mexican states and eventually merge with Mexico.

A group called "La Voz de Aztlan," the Voice of Aztlan, identifies Mexicans in the U.S. as "America's Palestinians." Many Mexicans see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group known as "La Raza," the race. A May editorial on the website, with a dateline of Los Angeles, Alta California, declares that "both La Raza and the Palestinians have been displaced by invaders that have utilized military means to conquer and occupy our territories."

Others in the coalition hope to see a "reconquest" of the American southwest by Mexico. This would not likely take place through military action, they say, but rather through a slow process of migration – both legal and illegal.

[Ryan Ruck]

Activists Working To 'Paralyze' U.S.

Organizers of L.A. rally now plan mass action to disrupt economy

The coalition that organized an estimated 500,000 marchers in Los Angeles to protest immigration reform announced its next mass action is "an economic and labor boycott that will paralyze the U.S. economy."

The radical separatist publication La Voz de Aztlan, the Voice of Aztlan, said the proposed boycott is in response to a "racist" measure in Congress.

The House has passed a bill to tighten border security, but President Bush broadly supports rival legislation being debated in the Senate that contains a guest-worker proposal.

Coalition member Roberto Reveles of "Unidos en Arizona" said his group will host a "summit meeting" April 8 and 9 in Phoenix to work out details of the boycott.

The boycott is scheduled for May 1, the Day of the International Solidarity of Workers, or May 5, the Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Armando Navarro, coordinator of the National Alliance for Human Rights, said, "We are living through very dangerous times and we must take advantage of the moment. If we just sit and wait to see what happens, everything we have accomplished so far may go to waste. That is why we must continue the struggle to once and for all defeat that racist (House) proposal."

In Phoenix, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 participated in a march and rally last Saturday.

"What occurred on March 24 is a consequence of the people being tired of the treatment we are receiving," Reveles said. "The first step has already been taken, we organized ourselves and have completed the first phase, now we have to prepare for the second."

Reveles said the activists "will not rest" until they see the House bill defeated.

"We are sure that the preparations we make at the summit will lead us to victory," he said. "We are united and only united will we be victorious."

La Voz de Aztlan said the two-day summit will be attended by Mexican-American and other Latino groups from Nevada, Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, New York, Chicago, California and other states.

Representatives from Mexico, Central and South America also will attend.

Navarro said the "international boycott" counts on the support of the consulates of Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, along with Mexican labor organizations.

"We have to demonstrate to the nation, one more time, that its economic stability depends on us," Navarro said. "I am sure that our sister nations of Latin America, who are also tired of the situation, will unite with us.

The professor concluded: "That is why we will celebrate May 1, 'Day of the Worker,' with labor strikes, no purchases and go out and march. Soon they will see the impact we will have!"

As WorldNetDaily reported, one of the organizers of the L.A. rally was the Mexica Movement, which already has decided it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent."

Both Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a proponent of tougher border security, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were caricatured as Nazis by the group on its posters and banners.

The group insists the indigenous people of the continent were the victims of genocide – a campaign of extermination that killed, according to one citation, 95 percent of their population, or 33 million people. Another citation on the same website claims the toll was 70 million to 100 million.

The only solution, says the Mexica Movement, is to expel the invaders of the last 500 years, force them to pay reparations and return the continent to its rightful heirs.

The platform of the group illustrates the diverse – and sometimes extreme – agendas of those participating in the mass mobilizations that have been seen largely as protests against efforts to curb illegal immigration.

The Mexica Movement has big issues with many other equally radical groups participating in the massive, united-front rallies, include the separatist Aztlan Movement.

Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs, is regarded in Chicano folklore as an area that includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas. The movement seeks to create a sovereign, Spanish-speaking state, "Republica del Norte," or the Republic of the North, that would combine the American Southwest with the northern Mexican states and eventually merge with Mexico.

La Voz de Aztlan identifies Mexicans in the U.S. as "America's Palestinians." Many Mexicans see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group known as "La Raza," the race. A May editorial on the website, with a dateline of Los Angeles, Alta California, declares that "both La Raza and the Palestinians have been displaced by invaders that have utilized military means to conquer and occupy our territories."

Others in the coalition hope to see a "reconquest" of the American southwest by Mexico. This would not likely take place through military action, they say, but rather through a slow process of migration – both legal and illegal.

[Ryan Ruck]

Thousands Protest Immigration Policies in New York City

NEW YORK — Thousands of immigrant rights supporters formed a line stretching more than a mile long Saturday as they marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, waving flags from more than a dozen countries as they demonstrated against possible immigration reform in Congress.

Heralded by a cacophony of trumpets, whistles and drums, the crowd of mostly Latin Americans gathered in downtown Brooklyn and trudged a path laden with symbols of the city's immigrant strength on their way to a plaza in lower Manhattan.

The marchers mustered in a neighborhood settled by the Dutch, crossed a bridge designed by a German, and finished in a square at the edge of Chinatown in an area that once held the Irish slums depicted in the 2002 film "Gangs of New York."

On the way, they passed the Statue of Liberty, hot dog carts run by Middle Easterners, taxis driven by Russians and police officers speaking Chinese.

More than 10,000 people flooded Foley Square, turning it into a sea of colorful banners and echoing noise. The crowd came dressed in the colors of Mexico, Uruguay and Ecuador, but just as many draped themselves in red, white and blue.

"If you hurt immigrants you are hurting America," read a sign held by one marcher. Others read "We are your economy" and "I cleaned up ground zero."

There were demonstrations across the country this week against legislation already approved in the House, which would make it a felony to be in the U.S. without the proper immigration paperwork.

Competing legislation under consideration in the Senate would take an opposite approach and give the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. a chance at citizenship.

"We came to say that we're here," said George Criollo, who arrived in New York a decade ago from Cuenca, Ecuador. "We have to speak, legal or illegal. We have to speak about this issue."

Criollo, who said his family was in the United States illegally, feared that legislation could lead to his deportation or jailing. In the House, legislation already has passed that would set penalties for anyone who knowingly assists or encourages illegal immigrants to remain in the country.

In Costa Mesa, Calif., more than 1,000 people protested the crackdown on illegal immigrants.

"Aiding my kids should not be a crime," said Dagoberto Zavala, 52, who immigrated from El Salvador to the Santa Ana area, and said he brought his two children into the United States illegally. "Congress needs to know the laws we have don't work."

Last year, the Costa Mesa City Council approved a policy that would give local police in certain cases the authority to enforce federal immigration law. The plan, which would be the first in the nation, still must be approved by federal officials.

In Oklahoma City, more than 5,000 people jammed into the Capitol's south plaza to protest proposals in the Legislature designed to stop illegal immigrants from receiving tax-supported services, such as Medicaid and food stamps, and require state employees to report suspected illegal aliens.

Supporters planned a rally at the Capitol on Sunday.

[Ryan Ruck]

Thousands Line Phoenix Street In Protest March

One of the protesters in a big march in Phoenix says immigrants are "here for the American Dream."

Police estimate at least 10,000 people joined the rally calling for more "humane" changes to immigration laws.

A 50-year-old resident of the city says the punitive measures being eyed on Capitol Hill are "racist." He says, "You're not going to find terrorists outside a Home Depot looking for a job."

The protesters marched to US Senator Jon Kyl's office. He's sponsoring an immigration bill.

In Georgia, activists say thousands of workers took part in a work stoppage Friday to protest a measure passed by the state House Thursday.

It would deny state services to illegal immigrants and impose charges on their wire money transfers.

About 200 protesters gathered on the steps of the Georgia Capitol. Some had Mexican flags and others carried signs reading: "Don't panic, we're Hispanic."

[Ryan Ruck]

Thousands Attend Immigration March And Rally in Grand Rapids

Thousands of people took to the streets of Grand Rapids Monday afternoon to protest proposed changes to immigration laws.

They participated in a march that started in Garfield Park and ended at Calder Plaza, where a rally is currently being held.

The Michigan Organizing Project is behind the event. The Michigan Organizing Project is a coalition of churches and community groups brought together with a common commitment to justice and toward improving our local communities for all residents.

Most of the speeches at the park were in Spanish, and most of the participants were Latinos.

The march, like others around the country, was meant to show opposition to legislation being considered to change immigration laws. But the comments of some of the marchers expressed a larger desire for recognition of the contributions of Mexican-Americans.

The issue at hand in Washington, D.C., at least is how to deal with the growing number of people who come across the border from Mexico illegally. Lawmakers are conflicted about how to deal with the borders, the immigrants, and those who are in the United States without documentation.

[Ryan Ruck]

Texas: Police Make Arrests On 2nd Day Of Walkouts

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Students rushed Dallas City Hall Tuesday in the second day of marches for the rights of illegal immigrants, leaving at least three injured; students also gathered at Kiest Park in Oak Cliff and Fort Worth City Hall.

The students flooded the most floors of Dallas City Hall, disrupting a council meeting, before police and security guards managed to usher them back out. Councilwoman Elba Garcia left a closed-door meeting to used a police-car public address system to ask students to return to school.

Hundreds of students were gathered outside Dallas City Hall with flags and signs. Several students were seen wading in the reflecting pond in front of City Hall.

One girl was carried out of the water and attended to by paramedics. At least one other person was injured moments later.

Police lined the City Hall entrance, and elevators inside the building were shut down late Tuesday morning. There was no word on damage or arrests.

Video footage Tuesday showed gridlocked traffic two or three lanes wide in front of one Dallas high school, with many truckbeds packed with students who waved Mexican flags.

At Kiest Park, about 1,500 students from Dallas and Grand Prairie schools demonstrated. Dallas police outfitted in riot gear moved in on the crowd after some of the students started throwing rocks and bottles at a woman who staged a one-person counterprotest.

Dallas police said they were forced to separate the woman from the crowd. They also moved students to a different section of the park.

Police withdrew after a few minutes and watched from a distance as the students boarded buses, which took them back to school.

Students from at least four Irving high schools walked out of class at about 9 a.m. and took the Trinity Railway Express to Dallas City Hall.

Grand Prairie Independent School District said students walked out from Grand Prairie High, South Grand Prairie High, Arnold Middle School, Jackson Middle School, Kennedy Middle School and Lee Middle School. The students walked eastbound on Pioneer Parkway and ended up at Kiest Park in Dallas.

Fort Worth Protests

Students from at least four Fort Worth high schools caused some tense moments at Fort Worth City Hall Tuesday morning, according to an NBC 5 report. Several hundred students walked to municipal offices, some from as far away as Polytechnic High on the city's east side.

The crowd became unruly at times, according to the NBC 5 report. Police on foot, horseback and in squad cars worked to maintain order. At least three students were arrested, NBC 5 reported, although no one was reported injured.

School administrators pleaded with students to board buses and return to their campuses. Many of the students complied and the crowd temporarily dispersed.

Pockets of demonstrators remained at City Hall, according to NBC 5. The students said they wanted to make their voices heard on the proposed federal immigration laws.

"They work here. They work in construction. They build the houses. Not everybody else is in the hot (weather) working outside. They're inside in air conditioning. We came to help them out, you know, protest," Richie Meza said.

Fort Worth Independent School District administrators said that while the experience is educational, they expect students to make up for the missed class work.

Houston And The Nation

Hundreds of others walked out of schools elsewhere in the state.

In Houston, police said they took some students into custody and several others were cited for daytime curfew violations.

Tens of thousands of students around the country walked out of class Monday and Tuesday to protest legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Legislation in Congress includes measures that would make it a crime to dispense aid to the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants, add penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and would build fences along part of the U.S.-Mexican border.

The full U.S. Senate is preparing to debate a measure passed by a committee Monday that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship. Any bill produced by the Senate would have to be reconciled with a House bill that would make illegal immigrants felons.

Demonstrator Injured

A woman who is believed to be a Dallas Independent School District student was injured Tuesday morning while participating in the protest behind Skyline High School in East Dallas.

The incident happened when the Ford Expedition in which Yadira Ortiz, 18, was riding rolled over, DISD spokesman Donald Claxton said.

Claxton said Ortiz suffered a severed hand and was being treated at Baylor Hospital. According to Dallas police, she is in stable condition.

The SUV was traveling at a high rate of speed, Claxton said.

High School Walkouts Begin Monday

School officials estimated that on Monday, 4,000 students -- most from Skyline, North Dallas, Townview and Molina high schools -- participated in the walkouts and demonstrations.

Dallas police blocked off traffic in and around Kiest Park as students flooded the streets. Chopper 5 showed several Dallas police officers at the park.

Some students in Garland also walked out from classes at Lakeview Centennial High School Monday morning.

About 1,500 people marched in downtown Dallas on Saturday. At a dinner meeting of the Latino group LULAC, leaders announced a major rally on April 9.

"We are going to be having, hopefully it will be the largest civil rights demonstration in the history of Dallas, Texas -- 100,000-plus," said LULAC representative Domingo Garcia.

Dallas school officials said the students who participated in the rallies on Monday would receive an unexcused absence.

[Ryan Ruck]

Students Rally On Los Angles Streets, Downtown Freeways

More than 36,000 students from throughout Los Angeles County skipped classes and marched through streets and on various freeways Monday to protest an immigration bill being debated in Congress.

More than 1,000 students waving Mexican, El Salvadoran, Guatemalan and American flags began gathering on the south lawn of Los Angeles City Hall just after 9 a.m., but crowds finally dispersed by 6 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Paul Vernon said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Police Chief William Bratton and Los Angeles Unified School District officials urged students to return to class Tuesday morning, when schools will be on lockdown.

"Our paramount concern right now is for the safety of these students," Villaraigosa said during a late afternoon news conference. "I'm asking parents to make sure that their kids are at school tomorrow, ready to learn and ready to discuss the important issues that they were here to demonstrate about."

Middle and high school classes throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District are scheduled tomorrow to discuss 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."

Letters and recorded phone messages in English and Spanish were sent to parents throughout the district, urging them to make sure their students attend classes Tuesday, Lagrosa said.

Students participating in a mass demonstration last Friday and Monday could face discipline ranging from suspension to exclusion from certain school-sponsored functions, Lagrosa said.

It was unclear how much money the school district lost due to decreased attendance today and Friday, she said. The district receives state funding based on average daily attendance.

Darlene Robles, superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, said the more than 36,000 students who walked out of class Monday were from 26 school districts throughout the county.

The LAPD was placed on citywide tactical alert as a precaution because of the protests in various parts of the city, leading to five arrests during a demonstration at Van Nuys City Hall, Vernon said. The status allows police commanders to deploy officers beyond the end of their shifts as needed.

Four youths were arrested on suspicion of assault, while another was arrested for alleged disorderly conduct. In one instance, a student waved a large tree limb at police officers during the Van Nuys gathering, Vernon said.

Shortly after 1 p.m., about 100 student protesters took their march onto the Harbor (110) Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. The students brought traffic to a stand-still on the northbound lanes of the freeway, then broke into two groups heading both north and south on the Hollywood (101) Freeway, according to Bratton.

"Those who got on the freeway were very foolish," Bratton said. "Those cars are going 70 miles per hour with kids walking by. That's not a good mix. But, by and large, these were peaceful demonstrations."

Bratton said he did not anticipate any student protests tomorrow because the weather forecast calls for rain.

During the protest at City Hall, Alejandro Aguirre, 15, and his father Sergio said they wanted to voice their opposition to the Sensenbrenner bill.

"Right now, the most important thing to me is this," said Alejandro, a sophomore at John Marshall High School. "If I miss class, it's not as bad as if this bill passes. I can always make up homework, but this is the most important thing affecting us right now."

The Aguirres, who marched with about 500,000 people through downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, said they believe the proposed legislation unfairly targets Latino immigrants.

"This is a country of immigrants, and this country would not be possible without us," said the elder Aguirre, who emigrated from Mexico about 20 years ago and now works as a Los Angeles city planner. "We are the backbone, we work hard to get here and we work hard after we're here, but this bill is trying to take all that away."

The Sensenbrenner bill, HR 4437, would require employers to verify Social Security numbers with the Department of Homeland Security, increase penalties for immigrant smuggling and stiffen penalties 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 part of the immigration reform bill today by adopting 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 full Senate has yet to vote on the revised legislation.

"We may be illegal immigrants, but we are human," Metropolitan High School senior Melania Preciado said as she waved a Mexican flag. "We deserve the same rights as everyone else, not be treated like criminals."

"We're coming from very different, rival high schools to come together and protest against this bill because it criminalizes people from other countries, who cross the border to get jobs, to contribute to the U.S. economy," said Gustavo Dominguez, a senior at Belmont High School. "We're just here to achieve a better life, that's it."

The students outside City Hall cheered loudly when Villaraigosa came out after speaking with six students selected by protest organizers. He said their opposition to the Sensenbrenner bill was heard, but urged the students to return to class.

"You've come today, you registered your commitment to your families, your opposition to the Sensenbrenner legislation, but it's time to go back to school," Villaraigosa said. "But in your schools, I want you to work to educate the other students about why it's so important for us right now."

Villaraigosa made a second appearance around 4 p.m. asking students to go home, but was met with taunts and obscenities in Spanish.

"I knew there was a possibility that the kids would react the way that they did," Villaraigosa said. "I knew that they were still very agitated, but I made it absolutely clear that even though they have a right to demonstrate, they also have a duty to return to school."