Day two of protests

For the second day in a row, scores of Newport-Mesa students skipped school Tuesday to protest proposals for tough new immigration laws.

Packing banners, flags and smiles, students risked an unexcused absence and traveled on foot to convene at Costa Mesa City Hall for a rally early Tuesday.

“We just want them to listen to us ? we just want to be heard,” said 14-year-old Liz Godinez, a student at Costa Mesa High School.

Many of the students were protesting a bill the House passed in December that would make illegal immigration a felony. The Senate is now debating a bill that includes a guest-worker program. Legislators will have to agree on a compromise before sending the bill to the president.

“We’re trying to get people to see that this law isn’t going to do nothing,” Liz said.

The students came from different schools in Newport-Mesa. Some walked miles from Newport Harbor High School and Ensign Intermediate School ? others from nearby Costa Mesa High School and TeWinkle Middle School.

The largest group, a pack of about 100 TeWinkle and Costa Mesa students, marched their way up Fairview Road just after 8 a.m. Tuesday.

As they passed Costa Mesa High School, administrators manned campus corners to ensure that the protesting students didn’t spill over into the Costa Mesa campus.

If any Costa Mesa High School students chose to participate in the protest, administrators wanted to make sure their parents knew where they were, Principal John Garcia said.

“We’re asking our kids to follow the normal, established, everyday checkout procedures,” Garcia said.

Police kept a noticeable presence at Tuesday’s march and stand-in at City Hall. A patrol car drove along side the protesters as they walked down Fairview Road.

“We just want to make sure if they do arrive here, they get here safely and leave safely,” Costa Mesa Lt. Karl Schuler said. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Once the marchers reached City Hall they streamed into a taped-off section of lawn in front of the building. Student organizers yelled to their peers to form a circle in which student speakers took turns vocalizing their message.

“We’re standing up for the Mexicans. We’re representing our race,” said TeWinkle eighth-grader Mario Solis, 13.

“Most Americans don’t know how to do manual labor. Who’s going to do manual labor?” said Consuelo Tolentino, 12, a seventh-grader at TeWinkle.

Newport-Mesa district officials stood on the outskirts of the student protest Tuesday.

“Right now, we’re just watching,” student services director Mike Murphy said.

The students who chose protesting in lieu of school Tuesday will be truant ? an unexcused absence, school officials said.

Contrary to what the student protesters were saying, school officials from Estancia, Newport Harbor, and Costa Mesa high schools and TeWinkle said the students were not on lockdown.

“It was pretty quiet here today,” said Sean Boulton, assistant principal at Estancia.

The threat of truancy wasn’t something that the kids seemed to be worried about. When asked if they were concerned about possible punishment, the students replied with a resounding “No!”

By 11 a.m. Tuesday, what started out as a protest had taken on the atmosphere of recess ? kids were hungry and started to get restless. The crowds eventually trickled out and didn’t return after school, as some officials had expected.

? Staff writer Alicia Robinson contributed to this report.dpt.29-protest-1-CPhotoInfoSV1PDIUT20060329iwv6ijknJAMIE FLANAGAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Pepe Montenegro, a crisis counselor in the Newport-Mesa school district, negotiates with students, asking them to return to school Tuesday. Students from all over the district left classes for a second day in a row to rally at Costa Mesa City Hall.