Former presidential candidate and Ohio native drew a packed house at the Bushnell Event Center in Springfield on Thursday night.

Ramaswamy began the event with his own remarks, then opened the floor to questions from the attendees. Many of the first questions had nothing to do with the hot topic of the last few days, but eventually the conversation did come around to immigration.

Former president Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance, another Ohio native, are stealing and eating residents' pets in Springfield.

But he responded to what he called a "hard question" with a more general take on how to solve immigration -- via mass deportations.

"Anybody who's committed a crime in this country, anybody who is actually currently detained?" he said. "You're talking about millions of people ... Those two categories together. That alone would be the largest mass deportation in American history.

"The next thing you got to do is like you've got a clogged drain, right?" he said. "What do you do? The first thing you do is you turn off the faucet. You don't try to clean the drain while you leave the faucet on. Use your military to secure the border. Use the national guard if necessary, aquatic barriers in the Rio Grande and yes, complete the construction of the wall, which is not a racist or xenophobic action."

(WARNING: The internet connectivity is not great inside the building where the live event is taking place, so delays are possible)

Late in the event, Ramaswamy was asked if he has plans to run for governor of Ohio, which drew a long, wild applause.

"I'm a little more inclined than I was about 10 seconds ago," he joked.

The man who asked that question identified himself as a journalist and said what he's learned in his time in Springfield is that the immigrants are "getting their homes paid for, they drive nicer cars than us and they also get free good. A lot of citizens in Springfield feel completely forgotten."

Before the town hall, Ramaswamy spoke to reporters about what he hoped to accomplish with his visit. He was asked about Trump and the cats-and-dogs hysteria.

Ramaswamy didn't speak specifically about Trump in his reply, but he did say the controversy has shone a light on the broader issue of immigration.

"In the last two weeks, we are talking about (important issues), maybe not in exactly the way that will help solve the problem yet," he said. "But I hope that now this will move us to the stage in the dialogue where we will get constructive solutions."

Also during the media gaggle, Ramaswamy spoke candidly about the role he said journalists have played in passing the cats-and-dogs story around, saying that reporters like "to pick on some fringe aspect of really important discussions. When people are exchanging heated thoughts about an important subject affecting Americans, they're gonna say things in a way that wasn't practiced, rehearsed or tested through consultant vetting and filters. And I think that's a good thing. I think it's better that we make mistakes of saying maybe too much that's raw rather than self-censoring and saying too much.

"I think the media in this particular case has latched on to some fringe elements of this discussion, some side topics that are not really close to the most important issue here, and have used that to sweep under the rug actual (issues)."