As a senior at West High School, Brenda Sanchez knows firsthand what the immigration debate going on in Washington means.

Her family came from Mexico and moved to Salt Lake City without legal status nearly a decade ago. Now Sanchez faces an uncertain future, and she worries that get-tough legislation pending in Congress could make it worse.

So, Sanchez opted out of class Monday and instead joined a crowd of more than 100 mostly Latino students in a rally outside their school, while U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill debated legislation that included a measure to make it a felony to help illegal immigrants.

"If we never do anything, we're just going to get stepped on," Sanchez said. "We're not doing anything bad. We're just here because our parents wanted us to have a better life."

A short protest was also held at Northwest Middle School, where administrators discouraged the protest but allowed about 300 determined students to walk out without penalty for about 30 minutes. The West High students were given unexcused absences.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday veered away from House legislation that would have deterred helping immigrants, opting instead to send to the Senate for debate today a measure that would create a guest-worker program with a pathway to citizenship.

The House immigration bill sparked protests across the country, including 100 demonstrators who wore handcuffs at a protest outside the Capitol.

Tens of thousands of students walked out of school in California and other states.

More than 14,000 students marched out of 16 Los Angeles-area schools, including the wealthy coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades, said Monica Carazo, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles school district. By midmorning, the protests had spread to downtown.

In Los Angeles, more than 1,000 students encircled City Hall and some met with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in his office. Hundreds of teenagers also walked out of several high schools in Dallas and headed for a rally at a park, some carrying Mexican flags. In Detroit, protesters waving Mexican flags marched from the southwest side of the city where many Hispanics live toward a federal building downtown.

In Utah, Northwest Principal Cherrie Berinlee said students are encouraged to express themselves at the school. Northwest has obtained federal designation to be a First Amendment School and receives federal money to help teach civic responsibility.

"To allow the kids to have a voice is critical," Berinlee said. "If anything, we should be celebrating the fact that these kids are interested."

At West High, the students — immigrants and native-born citizens alike — said they're facing a civil-rights struggle, like many generations before them.