www.drudgereport.com/

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/8289535/detail.html

Pics: They forgot the American Flags today

http://www.nbc4.tv//slideshow/news/8294 ... news;w=400

Students Rally On Streets, Downtown Freeways
Mayor Meets With Students To Discuss Immigration Bill

POSTED: 6:30 am PST March 27, 2006
UPDATED: 5:51 pm PST March 27, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- Thousands of Southland students skipped classes, rallied at City Hall and marched through streets and on downtown freeways Monday to protest aspects of an immigration proposal being debated in Congress.

Current Immigration Proposals
March 27 Images
March 25 Images: 500,000 Protest | Video
March 24 Images: Students Protest
Conan Nolan Reports On Bills

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. and stayed through the early afternoon, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Paul Vernon said.

Across the county, an estimated 21,975 students from various school districts took part in protests, according to Monica Carazo of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The protests, while causing some traffic disruptions, were generally peaceful, Vernon said while monitoring the demonstration outside City Hall.

Shortly after 1 p.m., however, 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.

Officers on motorcycles attempted to direct the students off the freeway. Authorities said some students were arrested because they failed to obey officers' directions.

At City Hall, Alejandro Aguirre, 15, and his father Sergio said they attended the demonstration to voice their opposition to 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.

The students outside City Hall cheered loudly when Mayor Antonio 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.

"You need to go back to school. You need to teach your fellow students how important it is to stand up for what they believe in."

The LAPD was placed on citywide tactical alert as a precaution because of the protests in various parts of the city, Vernon said. That status allows police commanders to deploy officers beyond the end of their shifts as needed.

LAUSD school board member David Tokofsky said as many as 21 campuses took part in the protest, and that the district was ready to provide buses to take the students back to their schools.

"There's always a tender balance between the learning that happens in text books and the learning that happens from experience, especially with government issues," Tokofsky said as he watched the students gathered at City Hall. "I know that the children are very concerned about their parents and grandparents and how this law might affect them, but I would much rather have the kids sitting in a classroom, reading about how a bill becomes a law."

On Friday, thousands of students left the campuses of Huntington Park, South Gate, Montebello, Jordan, Garfield, Roosevelt, Washington Preparatory and Bell high schools, said Ellen Morgan of the LAUSD.

Los Angeles School Police Chief Lawrence Manion told KNBC Monday that his department was focused on ensuring the safety of the students.

"Our concerns are their safety in the roadway, traffic collisions -- we can only be at one place at one time," he said. "We can't be everywhere simultaneously. So we will do the best that we can to provide a safe environment whatever happens this upcoming week.

"But we want to stress the learning environment is where we're at. And that's what our primary concern is: to provide a safe learning environment for our kids on the campus."

Committee Delivers Revamped Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved sweeping election-year immigration legislation Monday that clears the way for 11 million illegal aliens to seek U.S. citizenship without having to first leave the country.

After days of street demonstrations that stretched from California to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans also agreed to strip out proposed criminal penalties for residents found to be in this country illegally.

Text Of HR 4437

"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who played a pivotal role in drafting the legislation.

The 12-6 vote was unusual, with a majority of Republicans opposed to the measure even though their party controls the Senate.

Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., voted for the bill but signaled that some of the provisions could well be changed by the full Senate once debate begins there Tuesday.

In general, the bill is designed to strengthen the Border Patrol, create new opportunities for so-called guest workers and determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

At several critical points, committee Democrats showed unity while Republicans splintered. In general, GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sam Brownback of Kansas and Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is seeking re-election this fall, sided with Democrats. That created a majority that allowed them to shape the bill to their liking.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., won approval for a five-year program to permit as many as 1.5 million agriculture workers into the country. "It will provide the agriculture industry with a legal work force and offer agriculture workers a path to citizenship," she said. The vote was 11-5, with Republicans casting all the votes in opposition.

In addition, Kennedy prevailed on a proposal to allow an additional 400,000 green cards for future immigrants, regardless of the industry where they find jobs.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and other conservatives said anything but a requirement for illegal immigrants to return home amounted to amnesty, and he said he had national opinion on his side.

"Well over 60 percent of Americans in all the polls I see think it's OK to have temporary workers, but you do not have to make them citizens," said Kyl, who is seeking re-election this fall.

"We have a fundamental difference between the way you look at them and the way I look at them," Kennedy observed later.

The committee met as several thousand demonstrators rallied at the foot of the Capitol. Many were members of the clergy who donned handcuffs and sang "We Shall Overcome," the unofficial anthem of the civil rights era.

"The first Christian value is love thy neighbor," read some of the signs.

After a weekend of enormous rallies -- as many as 500,000 in Los Angeles -- thousands of students walked out of class in California and Texas to protest proposals in Congress to crack down on illegal immigrants.

In Detroit, protesters waved Mexican flags as they marched to a downtown federal office building.

"Do you see the community? Do you see how many people didn't go to work today," asked Janet Padron, a 22-year-old resident of Allen Park Mich.

Her remark underscored one of the complexities confronting Congress and the Bush administration as they grapple with the issue of immigration.

Senators on all sides of the issue agreed that illegal workers hold thousands of jobs that otherwise would go unfilled at the wages offered.

The agriculture industry is "almost entirely dependent on undocumented workers," said Feinstein. "It is unrealistic to think the workers will go home because they work here and the agriculture industry is dependent on them."

In purely political terms, the issue threatened to fracture Republicans as they head into the midterm election campaign -- one group eager to make labor readily available for low-wage jobs in industries such as agriculture, construction and meatpacking, the other determined to place a higher emphasis on law enforcement.

That was a split Bush was hoping to avoid after a political career spent building support for himself and his party from the fast-growing Hispanic population.

"America should not have to choose between being a welcoming society and being a lawful society," said the president. "We can be both at the same time."

Bush has said he favors a guest worker program, but it is unclear whether the administration would insist on a provision to require illegal immigrants already in the country to return home before they are allowed to apply for citizenship.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the committee, said he was "trying to thread the needle" to produce a bill that could command widespread support.

At one point, he outlined a proposed compromise on illegal immigrants and citizenship. Neither Kyl nor Kennedy sounded supportive, though, and it receded as the debate continued.

The panel agreed with ease to double the size of the Border Patrol over the next several years, and decided on a closer vote to make sure that humanitarian organizations are sheltered from prosecution if they provide non-emergency assistance to illegal residents.

Whatever the outcome of the committee's debate the prospects for legislation clearing Congress before the elections did not appear strong. The House has cleared legislation that consists of provisions to toughen enforcement against violators of immigration laws. It contains no guest worker program.