NEW YORK (AP) — Immigration reform activists say they’re tired of waiting for Congress to act and hundreds of them have been protesting outside a federal building in New York City.

The demonstrators, chanting and carrying signs, circled 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan today.

The protesters say deportations are breaking up families and children are losing their parents.

On a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she holds little hope that Congress will pass comprehensive immigration reform this year. She had been to a Border Patrol facility in Brownsville, Texas where unaccompanied children are being held.

More than 52,000 unaccompanied children, most from Central America, have been apprehended entering the U.S. illegally since October.