As congressional town halls have taken place in an atmosphere of nationwide political tensions, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper fielded questions Thursday night from a mildly heated audience in Colorado Springs about the future of Space Command and immigration.

A town hall held in Golden on March 19 by Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Democratic U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen and another hosted by Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Atlanta have both drawn police presence.

On Thursday, Hickenlooper met with a large crowd at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and, after a calm beginning, the conversation grew more animated as Hickenlooper fielded questions regarding deportation and the Israel-Hamas War.

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A 78-year-old Air Force veteran expressed concerns regarding the future of Space Command, which the Trump administration has indicated will be moved from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala. The vet asked Hickenlooper if he had seen any recent updated analysis related to the merits of the move.

“No,” Hickenlooper said. “There is not one shred of evidence that suggests that we would gain anything.”

Space Command is at “full operating capability” now and estimates eight to 10 years of diminished operating capability if it were to relocate, the senator said. 

Hickenlooper called on Colorado’s four Republican U.S. representatives to “stay strong” and refuse to support any bill that facilitates moving Space Command.

On immigration, a 20-year Navy veteran asked Hickenlooper what he plans to do to keep people from being illegally detained, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hickenlooper said he encouraged citizens to rally and publicly protest, but another attendee asked him what he was planning to do about it as a lawmaker.

“The reality is that we have to find some way to bring about pressure on ICE,” Hickenlooper said. “We have to make people feel like they’re heard.”

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The senator emphasized the importance of bipartisan cooperation and strategic actions to address the issue. He encouraged people to speak out and tell their stories.

Hickenlooper called out President Donald Trump for the actions, including the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

“I think the threat on our democracy is real,” Hickenlooper said. “This notion that we can take someone off the street, lock him up, not charge him, no hearing and send him down to a hellhole of a prison in El Salvador, and then admit that we made a mistake, but we’re not going to do anything about it.”

Hickenlooper was asked to comment on the Israel-Hamas War and described the images he has seen regarding the death and destruction as “one of the harshest events I’ve ever experienced.”

He spoke of the “barbarity” of what has been done to Israeli citizens but added that there is “no moral code in any religion that allows you to go and kill tens of thousands of people.

“Many, many people are getting caught in the crossfire. We have to have a ceasefire.”

In comments before the town hall, Hickenlooper talked about the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the impacts of Trump’s tariffs on local businesses and residents.

Administration talk of dismantling FEMA seems “irrational,” the senator said.

“I was here in the floods of 2013, the wildfires of 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017. FEMA is your partner that comes into small communities and counties that have never dealt sometimes with a major disaster, and works through it with them.”

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The president’s tariffs, meanwhile, are going to have a negative impact on the local economy, Hickenlooper said. 

“The tariffs are going to slow down everything, and the fact that he’s going to have these gigantic reciprocal tariffs, and now we paused for 90 days, well, that means no large company can make an investment, right?” 

“We’re grinding growth to a halt,” Hickenlooper said. “If they don’t do something a lot sooner than 90 days, I think we’re going to have a recession.”

Thursday marked the third town hall Hickenlooper has hosted since Trump’s second term began. A virtual town hall on March 12 had more than 8,000 participants, and on Monday, more than 500 people showed up for an in-person town hall in Grand Junction.