LOS ANGELES –The Los Angeles Police Department urged students Monday to stay in school “amid recent downtown activity” in which young people walked off campuses to take part in protests against immigration enforcement raids.
In a statement, the department reminded young people and their parents that a city curfew makes it unlawful for minors to be in public during school hours without a parent or for an emergency. It also noted that middle and high school students are legally permitted one excused absence per calendar year to participate in a civic or political event “provided advance school notification.”
Recently, downtown L.A., especially the Metropolitan Detention Center and City Hall, has been the focus of numerous middle and high school student-led walkouts to protest President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement raids.
When asked to comment about whether the statement was issued in response to student-led protests, an officer at the LAPD’s media relations division said the statement “stands on its own.”
Some people taking part in recent walkouts and demonstrations have encountered police skirmish lines, arrests.
The Department of Homeland Security accused protesters of injuring two federal officers and hitting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with a rock during a downtown student protest on Friday.
The LAPD statement also warned that adults who help minors participate in illegal activities “may be responsible for contributing to the delinquency of a minor” and could be subject to arrest.
“This law applies to actions like providing drugs/alcohol to minors, promoting truancy, and for parents failing to exercise reasonable supervision,” according to the department.
The LAPD statement did not point to any particular such incident of an adult taking part in such activity.
Ricardo Lopez, a former teacher at Synergy Quantum Academy, a charter school in South L.A., told reporters last week he was fired for opening a gate to let students leave campus to participate in a walkout.
Lopez maintains that he opened the gate out of concern for the safety of students who tried to climb or jump over the gate. He insisted he wasn’t trying to encourage students to leave campus, only to protect their safety.