Immigrants March in New York to Tell Trump They Are 'Here to Stay'

— -- A large crowd of immigrants and their supporters that organizers and police said numbered in the thousands marched across parts of Manhattan today with the intention of sending a message to president-elect Donald Trump that they are "here to stay."

The #HeretoStay march began at Columbus Circle in Manhattan then moved to Trump Tower, clogging up intersections with both protesters and onlookers. The boisterous crowd of marchers carried signs and chanted anti-Trump slogans as they rounded a corner of Central Park to head toward Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

At one point during the march, a male voice could be heard speaking to the crowd over a loudspeaker, using a key slogan of Trump's presidential campaign.

"Make America great again," the voice said. "The only way we're going to make America great again is by loving each other!"

Rachel McCormick, a New Yorker at the march, said her husband, Irivi, is an undocumented laborer working in a restaurant. McCormick pushed her daughter in a stroller as they passed Trump Tower while holding a sign that read "Don't deport my dad."

McCormick said her husband could not attend the rally because of work. She said the two of them met while she was a student at Vassar in Poughkeepsie and fell in love. She heard of the rally through social media, she said, and decided to attend on behalf of her family.

"This had been such a difficult week for us and for our daughter," she said.

The event was organized by immigrant advocacy organizations including Make the Road New York and its chapters in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Felix Gardon, an organizer with Make the Road told ABC News that he believes it is imperative to protest to raise awareness of what he called Trump's "xenophobic policies."

"People need to be aware that immigration forms our social fabric," Gardon said. "This man is trying to set America back 60 years."

Make the Road announced the rally with a message that warned of Trump's ambition to "tear apart millions of families."

"New Yorkers and communities across the country are standing up in resistance to the anti-immigrant agenda that Mr. Trump has pledged to enact as President—which would include stripping DREAMers of protected status from deportations and tearing apart millions of families through mass deportation," said Make the Road's announcement of the protest.

Protests have erupted across the country in the wake of Trump's election last Tuesday. Today marks the fifth consecutive day of protesting in the Democratic stronghold of New York City.