05:46 PM CST on Tuesday, March 28, 2006

From 11 News Staff Reports

Pasadena protesters surround police car | Hightower students join protest

Students from several school districts outside of Houston held marches and rallies to protest proposed immigration laws Tueday.

About 500 students from Pasadena ISD schools joined in the mass protest.

The majority were from Pasadena High School, but students from Sam Rayburn and South Houston also joined in the rally at Pasadena City Hall.

"We work as hard as they do, we do the jobs they won't do. We're not taking away anything from the economy," said Erica Solares, a young protester.

Fourteen students were arrested by Pasadena police. One student was arrested on assault charges, one for resisting arrest, five for disorderly conduct and seven for curfew violations.

Some students also rocked a police car and spraypainted it with graffiti.

Pasadena ISD officials say the other students will either be given detention or assigned to write a paper about why they were protesting. But they say curfew violations will be strictly enforced if the protests continue after today.

In Missouri City, about 150 Hightower High School students and 30 Lake Olympia Middle School students marched north on Highway 6 toward Sugar Land, according to Fort Bend ISD spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson.

FBISD police and campus administrators, along with Missouri City Police, followed the students along their march to ensure their safety.

They marched on Highway 6 to FM 1092.

Administrators offered the students bus rides back to school, which the students refused, Simpson said.

The students will face disciplinary action, and letters will be sent home to their parents.