During a liberal forum in Des Moines, Iowa, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley once again condemned the raids conducted during the recent holidays where Central American immigrants were pushed to be deported.

According to Yahoo News, Sanders says that although he agrees with President Barack Obama on an awful lot of issues, one thing they certainly "do not agree with" is the policy the US president goes by when it comes to dealing with refugees and deportation.

"As soon as I possibly can we will provide legal protection for the 11 million undocumented people in this country," Sanders pledged as quoted by Des Moines Register. "And I will do my best to get Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. But if they don't do their job, I will use all the powers the president has to protect undocumented people," he added.

Sanders' fellow presidential hopeful O'Malley, on the other hand, predominantly has an issue with the irony over the fact that the raids were conducted prior to Christmas day. "Jesus himself was a refugee child," the former Maryland governor said. He added that the action was nothing but "inconsistent" with the principle of freedom and the concept of a unified nation.

Both candidates suggested alternate and peaceful resolutions to the issue, and have pledged support for the middle class. Sanders said that predatory lending should be eliminated. To do this, he is pushing for essential banking services to be made available at post offices.

O'Malley, on the other hand, explained the one way to make this a win-win situation is to simply raise the federal investment in transportation and affordable housing, which he vowed to do when he becomes United States of America's next leader.

The criticism seems to have pushed The White House to defend the move. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest maintained that the raids' foremost target happen to be individuals with criminal records and those who crossed the US-Mexico border illegally. However, it is the horrible timing of the raids that critics were mostly concerned about.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, who Fox News Latino reports is leading the polls in Iowa (Sanders is in second while O'Malley falls way behind), was not in attendance, but she did share her two cents on the matter.

Clinton's spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said that the presidential frontrunner "believes the United States should give refuge to people fleeing persecution... She believes we should not be conducting large-scale raids and roundups that sow fear and division in our communities."

Yahoo News reports that Clinton's fervent campaigning in Iowa has earned the trust of a big chunk of the population in the caucus state. Some of her supporters were even disappointed she wasn't around, with a majority of them chanting "Where is Clinton?"