More than 350 people gathered at Hoover City Hall on Saturday morning for a town hall meeting with Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover, who has been the only House member from Alabama so far to meet with constituents in an open forum over the congressional recess.

About 160 people -- nearly all of them liberal -- were allowed inside as the council chambers were at capacity. But at the start of the forum, Palmer walked outside to speak to those who were unable to get inside, and later promised to hold a forum at a larger venue to accommodate a bigger audience.

"I know how you feel" after Trump's election, he told the crowd, saying he was in the same boat after the elections of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

"None of those candidates believed in the same things I believed in ... but I got up the next morning and made up my mind to get back to work ... and make an impact."

The two-term congressman, who is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, acknowledged that the attendees were not paid protestors -- a criticism that has been used by President Donald Trump to delegitimize his grassroots opposition.

"I've played football on astroturf and I know what that feels like," Palmer said, referring to a statement by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who said anti-Trump crowds have "become a very paid, 'astroturf' type movement."

Palmer was not met with hostility that has plagued other town hall meetings across the country; the Hoover crowd used green and red signs handed out by an organizer to signal when they agreed or disagreed with what was being said.

But the congressman still heard his share of boos when explaining his views on defunding Planned Parenthood, his beliefs that climate change is not man-made and that health savings accounts would be a better way to provide health care access, and his reasoning for not calling on Congress to investigate the Trump campaign's interactions with Russia or the president's actions toward the press. Palmer said the Russia allegations would fall under the intelligence community's jurisdiction.

"These people are professionals. They don't care if you're Republican, they don't care who you voted for. What you're telling me is you don't have confidence in these people," he said.

"When they come back and they give us a report, we'll act on it."

While Palmer mostly saw red signs when he spoke, the crowd also gave him credit when he explained that he changed his view on how to deal with illegal immigration.

"We're not going to deport 11, 12 million people," he said, adding that it would be too costly and create a "humanitarian disaster." At the same time, Palmer said the immigration system needs reforming.

The congressman was also met with cheers after a woman asked him how the bomb threats against the Birmingham Jewish Community Center and other JCCs across the country were being investigated. Palmer said federal law enforcement should be probing the threats because they are "a federal issue."

"I'm very concerned where this is headed," he said about the threats.

On the Affordable Care Act, Palmer said the legislation "is not working," adding that six states and 1,000 counties only have one healthcare provider.

"What we have now is a system that's collapsing under its own weight," he said.

Palmer said part of the answer is to allow residents to purchase insurance across state lines.

Shea Rives, who has helped organize protests at Palmer's Vestavia Hills office, applauded the congressman for meeting with constituents who don't share his views. Still, he argued that Palmer should be more outspoken about the political climate after Trump's election.

"I think what we have is President Donald Trump is an unqualified, dangerous man in a position to do significant damage to this country, and I have heard you say in the past that you believe sometimes we need more people willing to take a vote that may cost them the next election. What we need today is people willing to take a stand that will cost them the next election," Rives told the congressman.

But Palmer said that Trump hasn't done anything that's crossed the line legally and that he had the authority to repeal Obama's executive orders and to authorize the controversial travel ban of seven Muslim-majority countries.

Asked about Trump's treatment toward the press and labeling the media as an "enemy," Palmer said, "that's not a constitutional issue."

Palmer was elected to a second term with 74 percent of the vote in November against Democrat David Putman, and the district is one of the most conservative in the state.

The congressman said the purpose of the town hall wasn't to say what the crowd wanted to hear.

"If I start pandering, then I'm a liar, and that's not gonna help me," he told the crowd. "When we understand when we disagree, then at least we can have a dialogue."