Carson students join national protest

About 300 Carson High School students have reportedly walked out of classes in protest of an immigration bill pending before Congress.

The walkouts began at about 11:30 a.m. following a loudspeaker address announcing the protest.

Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Mark Jongsma said Monday morning prior to the walk-out brochures were passed around Carson City's only high school to organize the event.

The students, carrying signs and flags, are being escorted by police to the state Capitol.

"They are very well behaved," said Sheriff Ken Furlong. "We are just keeping an eye on them to make sure they don't get hurt."

Tens of thousands of other students walked out of schools in across the country, waving flags and wearing white shirts in a second week of protest against a law making it a felony to be an illegal immigrant.

In Washington lawmakers were considering immigration reform involving the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and erect fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border.