Immigrants, advocates and students in Brooklyn 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. 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.