Gilroy High students stage another march to protest legislation;
five arrested
By Kristen Munson and Heather Bremner, Staff Writers
Gilroy – For the second consecutive day, Gilroy High School students cut class and marched down city streets to protest a proposed federal law that would turn illegal immigrants into felons. Five of the protesters, four juveniles and an 18-year-old, were arrested during the Tuesday afternoon protest after failing to listen to police commands to stay on the sidewalk.
Tuesday’s protest came days after thousands of people nationwide protested the legislation and was far less organized, less peaceful and more chaotic, with only a few students holding what appeared to be recycled signs and a couple waving Mexican flags. One student even marched holding a large branch in the air.
As they marched up Monterey Street towards South Valley Middle School, a Gilroy police officer arrested two females who were holding a sign and leading protesters through traffic.
“They were arrested because they were in the middle of the roadway,” said Sgt. Kurt Svardal. “You can protest. But you cannot interfere with the flow of traffic.”
As the arrested teens were led out in the back of police cruisers, some protesters cheered.
“We have a responsibility to both the protesters, making sure they are safe, but also to the citizens who want to get down the road from point A to point B,” Svardal said.
But Gladys Jimenez said she didn’t notice the police sports utility vehicle approaching from behind until it brushed her on the left hip. Then police unjustly grabbed and arrested she and Lizbeth Tovar, the two 15-year-old sophomores said.
“We were just there and she pulled us,” Tovar said.
They were taken to the police station and arrested for blocking traffic and delaying arrest. The two said they weren’t resisting arrest and Jimenez, turning her arms over to show one small bruise and a few red marks on the inside of her forearms, said the police officer used unnecessary force when plucking her out of traffic.
“It was a nonviolent protest,” she said. “She doesn’t have the right to pull me.”
According to police, additional punishment for the protesters is up to the Gilroy Unified School District.
“We’re going to let them protest,” Svardal said. “Part of our country is the ability to actively protest. What we would like is for students to follow the law.”
But Principal James Maxwell said students who participated in Tuesday’s protest will face consequences.
“Enough’s enough,” he said. “The point was made on Monday. Education comes first.”
Maxwell said staff didn’t make any announcements warning students not to participate in either day’s protest because they assumed it would entice the teens and they were hoping students would refrain from walking out again Tuesday.
But now that students have ditched twice in the name of immigration and have said they’re planning to do so again, an announcement will be made this morning. Students who cut will have to attend Saturday school and pick up trash on campus.
In Hollister, hundreds of San Benito High School students ditched school Tuesday morning to participate in an impromptu walk-out marching around the perimeter of town for nearly two hours before returning to class.
“It was hard to stop them or keep them back,” said SBHS teacher Juan Robledo, who followed the students to make sure they behaved. “And once the first ones crossed the street they got more momentum, more kids just kept joining them.”
In Gilroy, as students marched down IOOF Avenue, passersby questioned the protest. When informed who they were and what they were protesting, one commented, “Sounds like an excuse to get out of school. If I were in high school that’s what I would do.”
Cars honked horns in support of the students who chanted “Mexico” and “Si se puede” as they walked. On Monterey Street one passerby yelled “Get an education,” and another, who followed the crowd in his raised red truck honked in support and shouted at police officers “Leave ’em alone.”
As protesters passed South Valley Middle School, some waved for students out at recess to join. School administrators ushered them off campus and yelled for the middle schoolers to stay put.
Thirteen students decided to run off the Ascencion Solorsano Middle School campus, heading to a creek below and a muddy road above. Principal Sal Tomasello said he followed a couple of the students and ended up catching four.
“Four of them said they got caught up in other students leaving,” he said. “So far, the ones we’ve talked to weren’t very informed.”
The 13 students who cut class at Solorsano will have to sit through four hours of Saturday school.
Tomasello said there were also some loitering South Valley students on campus at the end of the day who were asked to leave. School officials will try to identify those students in yearbook pictures and pass the information along to South Valley officials, he said.
Not all GHS students were happy with the actions of their classmates.
“I think it’s extremely cool and I’m glad that they’re getting involved,” Jiana Escobar said. “But I just feel that the way they did it was wrong. I think they need to find a better place than at Gilroy High, go to City Hall (or) go to San Francisco where they’re having those mass marches.”
HR 4437, the legislation protesters are opposing, was approved by the House in December and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Next, the full Senate will begin a debate on immigration with the aim of passing a bill by April 7.
Any bill produced by the Senate would also have to be reconciled with the House bill, which would make illegal immigrant felons. The Judiciary Committee’s bill would tighten border security, regulate the flow of guest workers into the U.S. and give the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants a chance to apply for amnesty.
Associated Press contributed to this article.
