LA to cite truant students for protesting

High school students have been skipping class, purportedly to "protest" the attempts to enforce our illegal alien laws. Why they have been skipping class probably depends on your perspective: some would say to object to the efforts to stop illegal immigration, and others would say that it's because they're a bunch of lazy ass slackers who are looking for an excuse to skip school.

Anyway, LA is going to try to put a stop to this truancy. Excerpt from article:

Despite school lockdowns and rainy weather, some 11,000 students from nearly two dozen Los Angeles County campuses skipped school Tuesday as immigrant-rights rallies continued, leading to some arrests.
...
About 8,000 students from the Los Angeles Unified School District and 3,000 students from other schools countywide took part in protests Tuesday, or at least did not show up for class, LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer said. Beginning Wednesday, LAUSD students who do not show up for school will automatically be considered truant, Romer said.

"It's one thing to have a spontaneous demonstration of free speech, but it's another to have continued absences," Romer said during a City Hall news conference Tuesday afternoon. "A parent has a legal obligation to have their youngsters in school."

Such a crackdown must be because of racism, right? Can't stand to see a bunch of Latino kids exercising their First Amendment rights, huh? There's just one problem with that theory:

"Our first priority is to keep our kids safe, that they need to be back in school," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said after meeting with Romer, Bratton and Sheriff Lee Baca this afternoon. "And it's important for parents to understand that beginning today we will be strictly applying our truancy laws."

The mayor of LA is Hispanic...and he wants to "strictly" enforce truancy laws? Uh, never mind about that "racism" thingee.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can skip school to exercise it, and face no consequences. Geez, considering that they're breaking immigration laws and truancy laws, that kind of shoots holes in the "we're just a bunch of law-abiding hard-working people" mantra, doesn't it?