Students protest immigration bill

More than 30 students walked out of Incline High School just before their last classes Monday afternoon to protest legislation designed to crack down on illegal immigration.

The IHS students walked out in solidarity with tens of thousands of other students from schools throughout California and other states, including students from Truckee, North Tahoe and South Tahoe high schools.

Local students carried Mexican, El Salvadorian, Colombian and United States flags and held signs written in English and Spanish as they marched down Village Boulevard, along Lakeshore Drive and back towards state route 28.

The students shouted chants like "Latinos Unidos jamas seran vencidos" (Latinos united will never give up) and "No on HR 4437," as they marched.

"Our people come to the United States looking for a better future," said Israel Hernandez, 17, who despite being sick came out to join his fellow students. "It would be hard being afraid to go to work because you think you are going to get jail time just for trying to make a living," he said referring to possibly the most controversial piece of the House Bill that would make being an illegal immigrant a criminal rather than a civil offense.

"It is not just Mexicans," said IHS student Luis Martinez, it is everyone. "No one in the U.S. was born here since the beginning of time."

"We want to show that immigrants have rights too," said IHS student Pamela Noriega who, along with Ivet Contreras, helped organize the protest.

Conteras and Noriega said they sent out text messages and posted bulletins on My space after receiving bulletins and messages from friends in other parts of California and the country.

The nationwide school walk out is the latest in a series of protests that have been taking place across the country over the last two weeks. News broadcasts estimated more than 500,000 people gathered to protest the immigration reform bill HR 4437 in Los Angeles Saturday.

The legislation, which passed through the House of Representatives last week, is now being reviewed by the Senate. The legislation, often referred to as "immigration reform legislation," would impact the rights of illegal immigrants in the country. In addition to changing illegal immigration from a civil to a criminal offense immigration activists voice strong opposition to provisions in the House Bill that would limit the ability of deported illegal immigrants from again entering the United States. Other concerns related to erosion of due process and judicial review have contributed to the fervor of opposition against the legislation.

"This is really important for us, for everybody, all immigrants," said Monica Santa Maria, a cafeteria worker at the High School who, along with her husband, Carlos, joined the students in protest.

While protests against the bill passed by the House continue the Senate Judiciary Committee has been working on dramatically different immigration reform legislation widely supported by democrats but dividing republicans. The bill put forth by the Senate Committee supports the legalization of some 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.