Denver is a town with a lot of opinions, but inside the Colorado Convention Center Saturday, most people at the Western Conservative Summit had the same thoughts.
"I’m completely for those raids and I think they’re a good thing to enforce our laws," said Jason McBride, one of the conference attendees. "I think they need to be deported or jailed as quickly as possible."
The topic of illegal immigration elicits strong opinions, no matter what your beliefs. Today people at the Western Conservative Summit debated solutions to what most people there called one of the most pressing issues facing the country.
"We only have so many resources to go around and there are people who are American citizens whose needs are not being met," said Anita Connors, one of thousands who came for the conference. "I have nothing against immigration but I have a lot against illegal immigration."
9NEWS met Jason McBride, Steve Kopp and Anita Connors at a presentation called ‘Mitigating Chaos: Priorities for Immigration Reform and Border Security.’ It was hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington.
"I think the raids need to happen. Whether they’re overdue or not, they need to happen," said Kopp. "If people have been given a lawful order of deportation and they’re still in the shadows, they need to be brought out of the shadows and deported."
Thomas Homan, the former Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was supposed to be one of the speakers, but backed out last minute after his clash with Democratic representatives during House testimony on Friday.
As the families of those who are in the country illegally wait with uncertainty, many others view the raids as a step in the right direction.
"If they were supposed to be deported, I think they should be deported," said Connors. "I’m against people breaking into a home. I’m against someone robbing a store. I’m against somebody committing murder. Here these people are coming into this country and they’re doing all that."
ICE said in a statement that they prioritize the arrest and removal of "unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security." They also said anyone in violation of immigration laws is subject to arrest and removal from the U.S."
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