Updated

Students by the hundreds walked out of their classrooms and Latino-owned businesses closed by the dozen as part of "Day Without Immigrants" demonstrations across Texas.

More than 1,100 students went on strike at Dallas Independent School District schools on Thursday. That's according to school board member Miguel Solis.

The El Rancho supermarket chain closed its 16 stores for the day. In Fort Worth, school absences were about 13 percentage points above normal. Other North Texas districts saw light to moderate increases in absenteeism Thursday.

Absenteeism is much higher in the Austin area, where classrooms were reported to be no more than half-full. Hundreds of immigrant rights advocates rallied and marched from the Texas Capitol through downtown Austin.