BOSTON — A Massachusetts sheriff is recommending that leaders of so-called sanctuary cities be arrested.
Republican Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson made the comments Tuesday in a prepared statement before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
Hodgson said federal authorities should "charge these officials who pledge to violate federal law by harboring and concealing illegals."
Several cities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island's capital city have cast themselves as sanctuary cities, declining to cooperate with federal officials looking for individuals in the country illegally.
Hodgson added that "sanctuary cities will start to fade if their leaders start running into legal trouble."
The Democratic mayor of one of those cities - Somerville's Joseph Curtatone - called Hodgson "a jack-booted thug" and said sanctuary cities aren't breaking any laws.
Curtatone added: "Come and get me."