High school students protest against classmate’s deportation

TUCSON – About 100 students demonstrated outside a Tucson high school yesterday, then marched five miles downtown to protest the arrest and removal to Mexico of a classmate and his family.

The students apparently did not walk out of classes but arrived at Catalina High School ready to demonstrate and head to the federal building, Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman Chryl Hill Lander said.

Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Mark Robinson said at least some of the demonstrators veered off to congregate peacefully outside police headquarters.

One erroneous rumor of a Border Patrol raid started circulating at the time of Thursday’s removal of a ninth-grader, authorities said.

“”We heard rumors that it was a raid by Border Patrol, which it was not,”” Lander said.

School officials searched the backpack of a 17-year-old freshman who was incoherent, and when they found a substance that looked like marijuana, called police – standard procedure.

“”Police were called in because there was marijuana found in a student’s backpack,”” Lander said. “”Administrators have the right to go through a backpack when the situation warrants, and the student was acting strangely, was incoherent. He wasn’t able to talk and make complete sentences,”” she said.

Police called the boy’s parents and asked them to come to the school. When they arrived, police asked to see their drivers’ licenses.

The parents acknowledged living in the United States illegally with their two sons, including a sixth-grader, for a half-dozen years.

Police in turn notified the Border Patrol, who took all four people into custody.

Immigrant rights activists voiced concern about the incident, but Tucson police defended their calling the Border Patrol as the appropriate action.

Authorities make 171 arrests at UA homecoming events

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – State liquor control agents and Tucson police made 171 arrests for alcohol-related offenses during the University of Arizona’s homecoming weekend celebrations, authorities said.

State agents also cited the UA Alumni Association and the Tucson Convention Center for alleged violations of liquor laws. The Alumni Association held an event in a closed area of the university mall.

From Friday to Sunday, the state liquor agency and Tucson police found 176 violations, ranging from driving under the influence to administrative violations, in which the liquor seller is cited, Department of Liquor Licenses and Control spokeswoman Lee Hill said. Of those, 125 were criminal offenses.

Information from: Tucson Citizen, http://www.tucsoncitizen.com