Absentee Rates Spike as Students Support Pro-Immigrant Action

Tens of thousands of students across the country began last week by staying out of school to join a nationwide boycott, organized mostly by Latinos, to oppose federal proposals that would crack down on illegal immigration.

Public school districts in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco reported higher student-absentee rates than usual on May 1, the day of the boycott. Some of the same districts also reported that teachers and staff members generally came to work as usual.

Particularly in California, students in heavily Hispanic districts took part in the national effort, which many immigrant leaders promoted as a way to dramatize immigrants’ contributions to U.S. society through their mass absence from work or school and by not patronizing stores or other businesses for a single day. Many boycotters joined in...