Local Elections : PROPOSITION 187 : Last-Minute Rallies Held by Students

Student protests over Proposition 187--including Ventura County’s first demonstration in support of the initiative--continued Tuesday as community activists mounted an 11th-hour push to defeat the ballot measure.

At Nordhoff High School in Ojai, supporters and opponents of the initiative squared off in competing noontime rallies. At Ventura High School, about 50 students walked out during a morning break in that school’s only anti-187 march.

And in Oxnard, about 75 students from Frank Intermediate School took to the streets about 8 a.m. to support a group of hunger strikers who have been fasting since Sunday to demonstrate opposition to the measure.

The students marched to Oxnard’s Plaza Park, where they were joined by Oxnard High School students on a three-mile march through the city. Along the way, they waved placards and chanted “Raza (the people) Si, Wilson No.”

“We aren’t just here to ditch school,” said 14-year-old Beto Bustos, an eighth-grader at Frank Intermediate. “We’re fighting for our education.”

Afterward, about 50 of the protesters joined a door-to-door push to get voters to the polls. Led by the hunger strikers, most of whom are Oxnard College students, they fanned out across Oxnard’s La Colonia district.

Michael Inda and Alma Becerra, both 15-year-old Oxnard High students, knocked on one door after another, exhorting residents to vote against Proposition 187.

“Have you voted yet?” Alma asked a woman in Spanish. The woman said she hadn’t, but that she planned to do so later.

“Well, be sure to vote no on 187,” Alma urged.

“Of course I’ll vote no,” the woman answered.

Even though their day off from school had cost them detention, Alma and Michael said it was worth it.

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“I did it to support our race,” said Michael, who took part 12 days ago in a 1,200-student walkout, the largest in the county against the initiative. “And my parents don’t mind that I walk out. I’m fighting for what I believe in.”

Karl Lawson, an immigrant-rights advocate who coordinated Tuesday’s voter drive, said more volunteers than usual took part in the effort.

“A number of people are doing this specifically because of Proposition 187,” Lawson said. “Without the ‘No on 187’ campaign, we probably would have had fewer volunteers.”

Despite that campaign, many voters said Tuesday that they supported the initiative, which would deny public education, non-emergency health care and a host of other benefits to illegal immigrants.

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Joe Mussi, a Thousand Oaks resident who immigrated from Italy 57 years ago, said he voted for the measure.

“It took hard work for me to come to this country legally, and I think it’s disgraceful that after working this hard, I have to spend my money to pay for people who come illegally,” he said.

In Ventura, 73-year-old LeRoy Andrews said he was infuriated by the student protests against the measure.

“I agree that kids need an education,” Andrews said. “But if they are going to go around carrying the Mexican flag, they ought to go to Mexico and get an education there.”

Still, Westlake Village resident Heidi Helstrom said she opposed the measure.

“Whatever you do, there are going to be people here illegally,” she said. “At least people should have the chance to be healthy and to be educated.”

At Nordhoff High, about 50 students lined a sidewalk in front of the school, holding signs and chanting anti-187 slogans. They were met by a smaller group of students, also holding signs and chanting slogans in support of the measure.

A wide driveway separated the two groups. The students exchanged angry words but otherwise did not clash.

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Ryan Bluntschly, an 18-year-old Nordhoff graduate, said he joined the counterprotest to voice his views on the initiative.

“I’m definitely pro-187,” he said. “I was born and raised in California and I don’t think that illegal immigrants should be able to get better health care than I can.”

At Ventura High, about 50 students walked out of school and down to De Anza Middle School, where they urged the younger students to join them. Hundreds of De Anza students, some of whom marched to Ventura High in their own protest Monday, were prevented by teachers from joining the protesters.

Nevertheless, the high school students said they felt compelled to speak out on the immigration initiative.

“We’re marching so everybody knows that 187 is not a game,” said Sheila Lara, an 18-year-old senior from Ventura High. “For me it’s a challenge, and we stand up to this challenge.”