Immigrants, advocates and students in the Bronx joined thousands at City Hall Monday to protest legislation aimed at toughening immigration laws.

The demonstrators are opposed to a bill passed by the House that calls for making it a federal crime to live in the United States illegally. Demonstrators say this country was built by immigrant labor and it would be hypocritical to criminalize them now. Bronx residents feel the bill would tear families apart. A measure that would have given illegal immigrants a chance for citizenship stalled in the Senate last week.

Rallies were held in more than 60 cities across the nation in what is being called a National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice.