Immigrant students choose ‘teach-in’ rather than walkout

Helping their peers understand the immigration problems and debates will go farther to solve the problem than many of the opinion pieces talking to the parents who have already made up their minds. DP

By TARA M. MANTHEY; The News Tribune

The News Tribune : Arjany Henriquez could have walked out of school on Monday to join the thousands of students around the nation marching for immigration awareness.

Instead, she stayed.

Marching would be an empty act if her peers didn’t understand her reason.

“Half of you don’t care,” she told 300 Clover Park High classmates gathered for a forum. “Be honest. You came here because you don’t want to go to fourth period.”

Since they came to a “teach-in” discussion, she was determined that they learn why she emigrated from Honduras and what the United States means to her.

Students at Foss, Stadium and Lincoln high schools in Tacoma also planned discussions Monday afternoon, according to Centro Latino, a Tacoma-based Hispanic resource center. In Lakewood’s Clover Park High School, students heard questions ranging from the basic to emotional:

What’s the difference between illegal immigrant, undocumented worker and regular immigrant?

How do you get a green card if you can’t speak English?

What happens to American-born children when their illegal parents are deported?

Some queries roused the crowd like an afternoon talk show host: Why not stay in your country and fight to make it better?

Henriquez explained how her younger cousins sell their bodies for money in Honduras. People lose their jobs because they have a different political belief than the ruling party. Women and children work for pennies a day sewing basketball jerseys that go for $80 in the U.S.

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