Not every kid down at City Hall

why he or she's there. I just got back from downtown and saw kids from Woodrow Wilson and Bryan Adams high schools being herded, field trip-style, into school buses so they could get hauled back to their respective campuses after

. Many of the kids I talked to were from Irving-area high schools, and some of them seemed to kinda sorta know what was going on.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SHOW ME HOW

X

Newsletters

_{All-access pass to the top stories, events and offers around town.}

• No Thanks
• Sign Up

X

SUCCESS!

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!

"It's for H.R. 4437," said Irving 11th grader Diego Garcia, clad in a lime green baseball cap and matching T-shirt. "We're just here to try to get heard." Another Irving junior texted me the message that buzzed around the Irving High School cell-wielding population. Yes, it cuts off at the end, and yes, the all-caps is all theirs:

"IF UR HISPANIC OR JUS THINK THA NEW LAW ABOUT HISPANICS IS STUPID 2MORROW IS IRVING DAYS 2 WALK UP AN LEAVE 4 ALL THA ILLEGA ..."

In the City Hall plaza, L.G. Pinkston sophomore Johanna Villasenoro was getting her soapbox on: "They need to learn how to respect Hispanics! We built all this. All you see, all these buildings and all these bridges, it was all us!"

I told Villasenoro and her friends that their absences were unexcused, and they were fine with it. She said: "It should be unexcused because we're taking a stand. It's our decision." --Andrea Grimes