More Students Arrested As Immigration Protests Continue
Oceanside Unified School District Closes Middle, High Schools

SAN DIEGO -- Dozens of teenage students were arrested in San Diego Thursday while more than 100 youths gathered on campuses threatening a walkout to decry proposed immigration reforms, school officials said.

As of 9:45 a.m., between 30 and 40 students had been arrested on suspicion of loitering, obstructing and delaying more arrests, said Music McCall, of the San Diego Unified School District, adding that not all of the students arrested were from SDUSD schools.

The students were arrested in Chicano Park in Barrio Logan by officers from the school district and the San Diego Police Department, she said.

The students detained for loitering will be processed by police and released to their parents. The others will be taken to juvenile hall, she said.

More than 100 students walked out of classrooms and gathered on campus at Memorial Academy Thursday threatening to march off school grounds, a school official said. The school was not on lockdown, she added.

San Diego police officers were summoned to the junior high school on Logan Avenue to monitor the crowd, which consisted of 300 to 400 students, said Gary Hassen, of the SDPD.

There were no other reports of students walking off school campuses in San Diego Thursday, McCall said.

School officials closed middle and high schools in Oceanside Thursday and Friday following outbreaks of violence during protests in North County Wednesday, said Laura Chalkley, of the Oceanside Unified School District.

The schools will reopen Monday, Chalkley said.

"Student safety is my primary concern," Superintendent Ken Noonan said Wednesday.

Three Oceanside youths were booked Wednesday on suspicion of felony assault for allegedly throwing chunks of concrete at officers, said Oceanside police Sgt. Leonard Mata.

About 250 Oceanside High School students gathered at the west end of the campus with the intention to leave school grounds even though the school was locked down, Mata said.

The group tried to force open a metal fence and began throwing objects at police when the authorities ordered them to step back, Mata said.

Officers shot pepper spray into the crowd after being hit with various objects. The students who allegedly threw the concrete were taken to juvenile hall, Mata said.

About 150 Mar Vista High School students were arrested on Wednesday at South Bay Community Park in Imperial Beach on suspicion of loitering, authorities said.

Elsewhere, about 1,200 youths Wednesday from San Diego city schools protested the proposed legislation, McCall said.

Similar protests in San Diego took place Monday and Tuesday ending in Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. Protests have been held in at least seven other cities within the county, authorities said.

The protests, which have flared throughout Southern California, target a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December and now being considered in the Senate.

The law would require employers to verify Social Security numbers with the Department of Homeland Security, increase penalities for immigrant smuggling and stiffen punishments for undocumented immigrants who reenter the United States after having been removed.

But the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee softened the bill Monday by voting to create a path for some of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens without first leaving the country.