The national immigration debate has hit close to home for many Catholic high school students, whose responses have ranged from participating in recent marches supporting comprehensive reform to voicing concerns about the impact of illegal immigration.

On March 31, on the heels of an estimated 22,000 public school student walkout in Los Angeles March 27, nearly 100 student representatives from all-boys' Cathedral High School north of downtown and all-girls' Sacred Heart in Lincoln Heights walked from Cathedral to City Hall on their Cesar Chavez school holiday to express their gratitude to city council members for taking a stance in support of humane immigration reform.

The students gave each council member a certificate of thanks for their position against HR 4437, the enforcement-only immigration bill, and also handed out their "One Voice, One Purpose" statement advocating an ethical solution to immigration reform. In part, the statement read:

"Will we now put our borders on lockdown and ship all our immigrants out? It is obvious that we have the legal power to send them back, but is it morally acceptable to send them all back, especially those who have lived here for most of their lives? There is an ethical solution to all problems. Although immigration must be limited and action must be taken, there is no reason to jump to conclusions and create extreme legislation that so many citizens have so hotly protested."

"We're really committed to justice issues," said Dominican Sister Mary Diane Scott, Sacred Heart High principal. She noted the immigration issue has been discussed a lot on campus, where 98 percent of the student body is Latina. "Many of our girls are frightened for their [immigrant] parents and grandparents," said Sister Scott.

At all-boys' Verbum Dei High School in Watts, with a student body that's approximately 60 percent African-American and 40 percent Hispanic, the immigration issue has been a topic of discussion for weeks.

"This issue of immigration ignited a lot of my curriculum because it pertained so directly to my students," said Maggie Bove-LaMonica, freshman/sophomore religion teacher. "They saw how this issue impacts their present and future lives."

Bove-LaMonica said the majority of her students are for comprehensive immigration reform keeping families together. However, some students expressed concern that government-funded services to immigrants result in higher taxes. Others worried that a continuing influx of immigrants changes the culture of decades-old neighborhoods.

At all-boys' Loyola High School southwest of downtown, where 25 percent of the students are Hispanic, teachers are taking class time to discuss immigration reform. On May 1, when two immigration reform marches drew over 400,000 marchers locally, Loyola frosh/soph English teacher Dan O'Connell devoted class time to immigration issues.

According to O'Connell, the majority of the students are for comprehensive reform, but a few expressed opposition to amnesty for immigrants. Some of the loudest critics, said O'Connell, were Hispanic students whose family members came to the U.S. through legal channels.

O'Connell noted eight Loyola students went to the May 1 march as a group while many others went with their own families. The school had a prayer service at lunchtime centering on justice for workers and immigrants and also had a table for students to write letters to legislators on the immigration issue.

At Daniel Murphy High School in mid-Wilshire, teachers used teaching materials provided by the U.S. bishops' Catholic Conference concerning justice for immigrants in all classes the day of the May 1 march and rally. After school ended for the day, a group of students and faculty members attended the nearby rally at La Brea and Wilshire.

Principal Denis Muņoz said members of Daniel Murphy's diverse student body, made up of 40 percent Latino, 25 percent African American, 25 percent Pacific Islander and 10 percent Caucasian, favor humane immigration. "The majority opinion is to have a just immigration policy for all people," said Muņoz.