By Globe Staff

Tens of thousands of people marching for immigrant rights filled Bay Area streets on Monday.
    What many are calling a new civil rights movement made an impact as businesses from the Fruitvale District in Oakland to the Mission District in San Francisco closed for “A Day Without Immigrants.”

    About 15,000 marched in Oakland, along with 30,000 in San Jose and many thousands in San Francisco. Some 250,000 people marched in Los Angeles and New York City, and 400,000 marched in Chicago, where immigrants from Ireland and Poland marched with Hispanics.
    The protestors rallied to pressure Congress, which is grappling with new legislation on immigration.
   “We Have a Dream Too,” read one protest sign in Oakland. “Workers Not Criminals,” read another.
    The U.S. Senate is considering a 700-mile wall along the U.S.- Mexico border that would cost $2.2 billion. Another proposed law would require employers to check the citizenship of employees. Undocumented immigrants would be charged with a felony.
    There are 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, and nearly two-thirds of their children were born in the U.S., making them citizens.
    According to the Pew Hispanic Institute and the Center for Immigration Studies, there are now more than 35 million people in the U.S. who were born outside the country, and the 12.1 percent of the total U.S. population made up of people born outside the country is the highest percentage since 1920. Some 7.9 million people moved to the U.S. during the last five years, the highest level for such a period ever.
    Mexico is the largest supplier of immigrants, followed by East Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
    On Monday in Oakland, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee convened a meeting of local community and faith leaders at the federal building to discuss the local impact of immigration policy.
   “We are here to emphatically reject the cynical and divisive politics of scapegoating, and to call for a positive, comprehensive and just immigration policy that recognizes the basic human dignity of the millions of hardworking undocumented people living in this country,” said Lee. “Immigrants built this nation, and their contributions are a proud part of our heritage. The millions of people who are marching in cities and towns across this nation are only demanding an immigration policy that lives up to that heritage and the promise of opportunity that our nation has always stood for.
   “A comprehensive policy has to address border security, but it must also include a process for earned legalization and a clear path to citizenship, and it has to address family reunification and the ability for children to pursue an education,” said Lee.
    Many businesses rely on immigrants, legal and illegal, for labor.
    Kevin Westlye, executive director of the San Francisco-based Golden Gate Restaurant Association, estimated that 50 to 75 percent of its 800 member-restaurants closed all day Monday or had reduced hours due to the shortage of labor, resulting in $2 to $3 million in lost revenues.
    Building contractors also canceled jobs, stores postponed deliveries and hotels reported fewer available staff.
    In Los Angeles County, the economic impact of Monday’s one-day boycott could be as high as $200 million, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.