NEW YORK (AP) – In the city that sees itself as second home to the world, thousands of flag-waving immigrants fanned out across lower Manhattan on Monday on another day of nationwide protests that have galvanized the country’s immigrant community in recent weeks.

The protesters in New York held signs with various slogans including “We Are America,” “Immigrant Values are Family Values,” and “Legalize don’t Criminalize.” One sign said: “Bush Step Down.”

“We love this country. This country gives to us everything,” said Florentino Cruz, 32, an illegal worker from Mexico who has been in United States since 1992. “This country was made by immigrants.”

The demonstrations have been spurred by a House bill that would criminalize illegal immigrants and calls for building a border along the southwestern United States.

With an overhaul of immigration law now stalled in Congress, the demonstrators have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States.

Monday’s demonstrations followed a weekend of rallies in 10 states that drew up to 500,000 people in Dallas, 50,000 in San Diego, and 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Dozens of other rallies, many organized by Spanish-language radio DJ’s, have been held nationwide over the past two weeks, including one with more than 500,000 people in Los Angeles.

Immigrants took to the streets all over the country again Monday, from at least 50,000 in Atlanta to about 3,000 people in Garden City, Kan., _ a small farming town that counts fewer than 30,000 residents.

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered outside lawmakers’ offices. At the Mississippi Capitol, they sang “We Shall Overcome” in Spanish.

In Atlanta, many in white T-shirts, waving American flags, joined a two-mile march from a largely immigrant neighborhood.

The Rev. James Orange from the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda compared the march to civil rights demonstrations led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and farm-labor organizer Caesar Chavez.

“People of the world, we have come to say this is our moment,” Orange said.

In New Jersey _ with the Statute of Liberty in the background _ several hundred people listened to speeches in Spanish and waved U.S., Colombian and Mexican flags.

“We’re here to let the U.S. know that we are in the country to work. We’re not here to commit crimes. We are singled out every time on the news, which says Spanish people are bad people. We are just here to work,” said a member of the crowd, plumber Jose Medina, 50.

Several hundred people gathered in New York’s Washington Square Park before marching to City Hall for the rally. Many waved flags, both American and of countries of their origin. Korean-Americans beats drums nearby.

One of the Korean drummers, Grace Nam, 35, who is an American citizen, said she came to lend her support.

“We just need to make our voices heard,” Nam said. “You want to live in a place where people are treated with dignity.”

“The No. 1 message here today is we are America,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, one of the organizers. “We’re here and we’re here to make America strong.”

Peter Lanteri, director of New York’s chapter of the Minutemen, a volunteer border watch group, said he thought it was “ridiculous” that illegal immigrants were protesting for their rights.

“Illegal is illegal, and they break our laws to come here,” Lanteri said by telephone. Lanteri said the Minutemen were not saying they did not want immigrants. “We want the illegal immigration stopped and the borders secured.”

At a rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania state Capitol in Harrisburg, Hierald Osorto, a senior at Messiah College, told the crowd about how his parents came to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador in 1980 and struggled to build a new life _ sometimes working 12 hours a day.

“It wasn’t simple for my parents _ they couldn’t just put in an honest day of work,” he said. “They were living in constant fear that they would be sent back to their country, returned to the war-torn land to be impoverished, hopeless and lost.”

Maria Santiago, 53, an outreach coordinator for nonprofit health clinic in Harrisburg, said she sees many illegal immigrants seeking access to health care.

“These are people that are willing to take any job, clean bathrooms, scrub floors for a measly penny so that they have an opportunity to live in this country … and yet we want to send them back because they want a better life?” Santiago said.

In Phoenix, police estimated that 25,000 people gathered for a rally. Exit ramps were closed and traffic on freeways through downtown was backed up for miles.

In Houston, thousands gathered at a park in a largely Hispanic area of town as they rallied to march toward the spot where Houston’s founding fathers first arrived.

Among them was Augustin De La Vega, who has lived illegally in the United States for 13 years. A large American flag flew from the stroller of his 4-month-old son, Kevin.

“We come here to do the tough work,” said the 36-year-old plumber from Guanajuato, Mexico. “We don’t mind, but I think all of us should have an opportunity to live here.”

Nineth Castillo, a 26-year-old waitress from Guatemala who joined the Atlanta march, said she has lived in the United States for 11 years “without a scrap of paper.”

Asked whether she was afraid to parade her undocumented status in front of a massive police presence, she laughed and said: “Why? They kick us out, we’re coming back tomorrow.”