In a noontime speech outside City Hall, Villaraigosa told the students that he opposed the Sensenbrenner bill.
"I know that all of you are fearful about what's going on," Villaraigosa said, referring to the pending legislation. "I know it would criminalize 12 million people."
But later in the afternoon, when he came out to tell students to go home, he was met with chants of, "Hell no, we won't go."
Administrators expressed differing views on the protests, which took place on the Cesar Chavez holiday. Some complained about a wasted day, while others praised the youths' activism.
"What pleases me is that our kids are politically active," said Ventura Unified School District Supt. Trudy Arriaga. "Isn't that what we want for the future?"
But Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Joy Dunlap said she hoped that it was over and that students had fulfilled their need to express their opinions.
"They've had that opportunity and now they'll come back and get back to studies on a normal basis," she said.
Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Al Mijares said the students should use the classroom to engage in the immigration debate.
"The students are generally interested in the subject," he said. "But our quest is to make sure they're safe. We don't want them to miss school."
For the most part, students were met with support from honking motorists and cheering observers. (The demonstrations occurred a week after HBO premiered a movie about the 1968 student walkouts in East Los Angeles to protest the treatment of Chicanos.)
"I'm so proud of these kids," said social worker Robin Sheiner, as she watched the crowd pass on Melrose. "They're showing what they believe in."
Times staff writers Hemmy So, Juliet Chung, Jennifer Delson, Gregory W. Griggs, Stephen Clark, H.G. Reza, Sara Lin, Kelly Anne Suarez, Michelle Keller, Tony Perry, Joel Rubin, Carla Rivera, Jessica Garrison, Mai Tran, Susannah Rosenblatt, Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
