The undocumented West High student didn't say anything when Utah lawmakers took away her driver license and replaced it with a driving privilege card. She didn't say anything when a legislator was trying to eliminate in-state college tuition for undocumented immigrants.

But, as she learned more about national immigration proposals, Marisela knew it was time to speak up. So on Monday, she joined tens of thousands of students in school walkouts nationwide as the U.S. Senate started debate on immigration reform.

"They can put barriers on me, but they're not stopping me," said Marisela, who declined to give her last name. "The American dream is not a crime."

Hundreds of Salt Lake City-area students skipped class to protest the immigration legislation.

At West High School in downtown Salt Lake City, the crowd started in the morning with 30 students and grew to some 400 people, mostly Latinos. It was over by 4 p.m.

At Northwest Middle School, 300 students choked a street corner near the campus parking lot for more than 30 minutes before returning to class.

At Kearns High School, roughly 30 students rallied in front of the school with signs that read "Viva La Raza!" and "We are workers, not terrorists. We need a solution."

Daniel Garcia, a Kearns senior, said he was protesting to stand up for his people - Latino immigrants.

"We came to work, and they treat us like we are nothing," he said. "We feel like we have no rights, and they are always trying to screw us over."

No one was arrested or hurt during the protests, said Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake City School District spokesman.

The Salt Lake City demonstrations come after several recent marches nationwide that drew hundreds of thousands of people protesting attempts to toughen laws against immigrants.

At West High School, 241 N. 300 West, where minorities make up 48 percent of the student body, people carried signs made out of poster board and cardboard boxes that read: "We are the American Dream," "We're not criminals" and "We are the future." Under a clear sky, they chanted "Students united, we'll never be divided" and "Vote No on HR4437." The U.S. House of Representatives in December passed HR4437, which would boost border security and strengthen enforcement of immigration laws, making it a felony to be in the United States without proper documentation. Utah's three House members voted for the bill.

Andrea, a West sophomore who also declined to give her last name, said she was marching in opposition to HR4437.

"We're here to let everyone know it's wrong that they're treating immigrants like felons," she said. "They're people; they should be treated as such."

Clara Ortiz, one of a handful of parents at the rally, attended to support her daughter Karla, a Horizonte High School junior. "It's not right that they want to discriminate against Latinos - we all have rights," Ortiz said in Spanish. "We need to unite ourselves."

Maribel Gallardo, a Kearns senior, found out about the high school rallies from friends. Other students learned about them through a flyer and text message on cell phones that read: "All Latinos Are Being Asked To WALK OUT. Why? To prove (the) U.S. Is NOTHING WITHOUT LATINOS."

"If we don't protest, they'll say we don't care, and they'll just keep adding more and more [anti-immigrant] laws," said Gallardo as she marched across the street from West High School.

Jose Quintero, a Kearns senior who also protested at West High, plans to join the U.S. Marines after high school. But, he said he doesn't understand why some Americans want to keep undocumented workers from being treated equally.

"People need to open their minds and stop being so ignorant," Quintero said.

School leaders warned students that they would get an unexcused absence if they walked out but told them to be careful if they left campus.

Olsen said the protests were "a problem" because they were held during school hours, and state law says students must be in class.

"It's good that the students are standing up for what they believe in, but the timing is a bit unfortunate," Olsen said. "A protest like this after school hours would have been great."

At Northwest Middle School, administrators who learned of the plans for a student walkout organized a school assembly to talk to students about their plans and alternatives, such as petitions.

Cherrie Brinlee, the school's principal, praised her students' passion.

"If anything, we should be celebrating the fact that kids are interested in what's happening," she said.

In California, the state's Cesar Chavez Day, at least 8,500 students marched out of eight Los Angeles-area schools, said a Los Angeles school district spokeswoman. By Monday midmorning, the protests had spread to downtown, where hundreds of students walked the streets and chanted.

A few schools chose to bar their doors to prevent walkouts. Officials at Huntington Park High School locked the gates after classes started, but the students climbed over a chain-link fence and joined marchers in their heavily immigrant community.

Police went on a citywide alert, but no major confrontations were reported.

In Dallas, hundreds of students walked out of several high schools and headed for a rally at a park, some carrying Mexican flags and others posters calling for Congress to recognize immigrant rights. In Detroit, protesters waving Mexican flags marched from the southwest side of the city, where many Latinos live, toward a federal building downtown.

jsanchez@sltrib.com

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Tribune reporters Julia Lyon, Sheena McFarland and Celia Baker, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.