Some 7,075 students, mainly from middle schools, had walked out as of
11:15 a.m. A total of 45 schools were impacted.

"That's less compared to yesterday, a lot fewer than yesterday, but
that's still a pretty large number of kids out of school," said Susan Cox,
spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Cox said all secondary school campuses were locked down today, meaning
no students who entered school grounds were allowed to leave.

Participation today paled in comparison to the nearly 24,000 students
atLAUSD and a total of 40,000 students from across Southern California
whostaged walkouts to protest proposed immigration legislation Monday,
blocking traffic on four freeways and leaving educators concerned about
howmuch longer the issue will disrupt schools.

Districts lose payments of $28.13 per student per day. The state makes
the payments to support local schools.

"Discipline is up to each individual school," Cox said. "Students will
be held accountable for attendance and for missing work."

With steady rain falling this morning, a scattering of walkouts were
reported, including one in Compton and another in Wilmington.

Television broadcast reports showed a small group of students, holding
their hands over their heads, as they were detained and later escorted
by police along one road in San Pedro.

Monday's protests are believed to eclipse in size the demonstrations
that occurred during the anti-Proposition 187 campaign in 1994, and even
a famous student walkout for Chicano rights in 1968.

Some principals put their schools on lockdown Monday to keep students
from leaving campus, and Los Angeles Unified School District officials
said all middle and high schools will be on lockdown today.

Monday's demonstrations appeared to start in Los Angeles but quickly
spread to San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Ventura
counties. Though the protests were mostly peaceful, there were a few clashes
and several arrests.

Motorists were left in gridlock as youths marched down Sunset
Boulevard, Melrose Avenue, Laurel Canyon Boulevard and other major
thoroughfares.

At one point, protesters marched onto the Hollywood Freeway in downtown
Los Angeles and two sections of the Harbor Freeway, downtown and in San
Pedro, briefly halting traffic.

Students in Orange County briefly blocked the Riverside Freeway and
Santa Ana Freeway in Fullerton, waving Mexican flags and tossing a rock
that smashed the window of a CHP cruiser.

By noon, thousands of youths had gathered in front of Los Angeles City
Hall, with student leaders meeting privately with Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa. The rally took on a festive tone, with many waving Mexican flags
and yelling, "Latinos Stand Up!" and "Viva Mexico!"

"It was my dad's and grandfather's sweat and tears that built the city
of Los Angeles," said Marshall High School senior Saul Corona, whose
father came to the United States illegally before getting a green card.
"People
like them did things no one else wanted to do because they wanted me to
have a better future."

The protests appeared to be loosely organized, with students learning
about them through mass e-mails, fliers, instant messages, cellphone
calls and postings on myspace.com Web pages. By contrast, the massive
rally Saturday that drew 500,000 people to downtown Los Angeles was highly
organized, with demonstrators urged to wear white and bring American
flags.

Many students said they were marching in opposition to a bill sponsored
by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) that passed the House in
December. The bill would give police more power to enforce immigration laws
and would lead to 700 miles of additional fencing along the border.

Even as the students marched, a Senate committee approved an
immigration package Monday that would enable some of the 12 million undocumented
immigrants in the country to become U.S. citizens.

As immigrants or children of immigrants, several marchers said they
would be personally affected by Sensenbrenner's pending bill.

"If this law passes, what will happen?" said Yadira Pech, 16. "There
would
be no more Los Angeles High School. Nearly all of us are immigrants."

Added Antonio Chavez, an eighth-grader at University Heights Middle
School
in Riverside: "Our parents, our families came here from Mexico. We want
other families to be able to come here too."

Some students said they did not know exactly what the bill said but
believed that it was part of an anti-immigrant movement taking hold
nationwide.

"We just walked out because we didn't want to be at school," said Diana
Hernandez, a senior at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. "But we also
believe [the legislation] is wrong."

The demonstrations became violent in some areas. In San Diego County,
two
dozen protesters were arrested in Escondido after refusing orders from
police to disperse. Two patrol cars were reportedly vandalized.

In Riverside, a peaceful student protest unfolded downtown as six
youths
and one adult were arrested across town after scuffles with police clad
in
riot gear and carrying nightsticks, authorities said. After following
students throughout the city and calling for them to disperse, officers
confronted the group. Students responded by hurling rocks and bottles
at
police.

"They're pushing us around," said Pati Sanchez, a Norte Vista High
School
senior. "People should be able to say what they think."

In Santa Ana, officers used nightsticks and pepper spray to control
students throwing bottles and rocks. They also set up barricades to
prevent
the protesters from disrupting traffic. One student was arrested and a
few
others suffered minor injuries, police said.

Four adults were arrested during a protest in Van Nuys, but no major
violence occurred in Los Angeles County. The demonstrations prompted a
tactical alert by Los Angeles police so the department could deploy
officers to areas where they were needed.

"They're noisy but well-behaved," said LAPD Chief William J. Bratton as
he
walked through the downtown crowd. "Let them have their say."

In a district with about 358,000 middle and high school students, an
estimated 26,000 walked out of more than 50 Los Angeles Unified
campuses.
Teachers, principals and school police urged students to demonstrate on
campus, but students flooded through gates and onto city streets and
sidewalks.

"It's very disruptive," said Ellen Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Los
Angeles Unified School District. "We want them to express their
opinions,
but there are venues, there are forums for them to do so. We'd like
them to
stay in school and get an education."

Not only did the mostly high school students miss class time,
administrators said, but the district could lose money if students did
not
show up. And with postings on myspace.com promoting more walkouts
today,
principals were doing whatever they could to encourage students to stay
on
school grounds.

Teachers are planning lessons on the immigration issue, and
administrators
are setting aside spots on campus for rallies and sit-ins. Some school
officials plan to punish students who left campus with enforced
attendance
at Saturday school.

In Los Angeles, principals sent notes home that urged parents to tell
their
children to stay on campus and warned of disciplinary action for those
who
did not.

Lucy Delgadillo, whose children attend South East High School in South
Gate, said she knows that lockdowns promote school safety.

"There are some kids who don't know what the protest is about," she
said.
"But there are kids who understand and feel strongly about this, and I
think they should be allowed to protest."

At some campuses where students did walk out, staff members marched
alongside the youths to ensure their safety, officials said. In
addition,
Los Angeles school administrators dispatched about 30 buses to City
Hall
and other locations to ferry students back to their campuses in the
afternoon.

In a noontime speech outside City Hall, Villaraigosa told the students
that
he opposed the Sensenbrenner bill.

"I know that all of you are fearful about what's going on,"
Villaraigosa
said, referring to the pending legislation. "I know it would
criminalize 12
million people."

But later in the afternoon, when he came out to tell students to go
home,
he was met with chants of, "Hell no, we won't go."

Administrators expressed differing views on the protests, which took
place
on the Cesar Chavez holiday. Some complained about a wasted day, while
others praised the youths' activism.

"What pleases me is that our kids are politically active," said Ventura
Unified School District Supt. Trudy Arriaga. "Isn't that what we want
for
the future?"

But Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Joy Dunlap said she hoped
that
it was over and that students had fulfilled their need to express their
opinions.

"They've had that opportunity and now they'll come back and get back to
studies on a normal basis," she said.

Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Al Mijares said the students
should
use the classroom to engage in the immigration debate.

"The students are generally interested in the subject," he said. "But
our
quest is to make sure they're safe. We don't want them to miss school."

For the most part, students were met with support from honking
motorists
and cheering observers. (The demonstrations occurred a week after HBO
premiered a movie about the 1968 student walkouts in East Los Angeles
to
protest the treatment of Chicanos.)

"I'm so proud of these kids," said social worker Robin Sheiner, as she
watched the crowd pass on Melrose. "They're showing what they believe
in."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Times staff writers Hemmy So, Juliet Chung, Jennifer Delson, Gregory W.
Griggs, Stephen Clark, H.G. Reza, Sara Lin, Kelly Anne Suarez, Michelle
Keller, Tony Perry, Joel Rubin, Carla Rivera, Jessica Garrison, Mai
Tran,
Susannah Rosenblatt, Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton contributed
to
this report