Youthful marchers stress immigration issue

PORTLAND, Ore. -- About 1,200 mostly youthful marchers paraded through downtown Friday, demanding a more lenient U.S. immigration policy.

State schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said that she supported the protesters' goals, but that their schools could give them unexcused absences for skipping class, which could carry various consequences for students.

"I am proud of the middle school and high school students who are exercising their First Amendment right of free speech," Castillo said.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including many students, have marched in protests nationwide recently in opposition to federal plans to tighten immigration laws.

About 1,000 people, largely high school age, demonstrated at the Capitol in Salem on Monday.

Some students in those protests have been suspended for skipping class to participate, including several at a high school near Tampa, Fla.

One speaker in Portland, James Williams, said his family is from India and that the immigrants' movement is the "civil rights issue of our generation."

"This is an American issue for all of us," he said. "It is about human rights. The bill before Congress is flatly immoral."