Mar 28, 2006 6:16 pm US/Central
Day Two Of North Texas Student Walkouts
NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 News/AP) ―
Thousands of North Texas students walked out of class Tuesday in another day of protests over proposed changes in immigration law.
Students from Irving schools rode DART light rail trains to Dallas Union Station, then marched to Dallas City Hall. Many students said they are concerned for family members who are in the United States illegally.
CBS 11 News crews were at Dallas City Hall as thousands of students converged on the building around 10 A.M. They rushed inside, filling every floor of the building, but did not ask to speak to anyone.
There were no arrests.
Several students were injured. One girl who'd left school had her hand severed in an SUV rollover as the vehicle, driven by an underage fellow student, sped into an intersection.
Yadira Ortiz, 18, was in fair condition at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, said hospital spokeswoman Maria Carpenter. No further details about her injuries were provided.
Another student left the rally on a stretcher, but details of the injuries weren't available.
Students crowded in front of City Hall with Mexican and Salvadoran flags and shouts in Spanish of "We can do it." Several had signs that said "Terrorists are coming in from Canada, not Mexico."
The protest started to break up after noon, when school buses arrived, some students wandered off and a few jumped into a fountain in front of City Hall for a swim.
Students in other North Texas cities protested as well. High school students from Dallas, Lancaster, Mesquite, Arlington and Fort Worth also marched in protest. Fort Worth Police used mounted patrol officers to control at least one group of students downtown.
Local hispanic leaders held a late afternoon news conference about the issue on Tuesday
(click here to watch the entire event), where they had a message for those students. They told the students that their voices had been heard clearly, but they needed to go back to class.
DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa says students who left Dallas schools the past two days will have unexcused absences.
Hinojosa says from now on, any students who leave will be disciplined and would be subject to arrest for truancy.
Congress is considering 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.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
