Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who earlier vowed to repudiate President Donald Trump’s plan for a mass deportation, will testify before a Congressional committee investigating “sanctuary” jurisdictions on March 5, city officials confirmed.

“After discussions, the mayor and the committee have reached an agreement to appear at a Congressional hearing with the House Oversight Committee on March 5,” Jordan Fuja, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said. “For the last two years, Denver has shown the country that you can be a compassionate and welcoming city without sacrificing public safety or core services. We look forward to discussing with the committee.”

The committee originally called for Johnston, along with the mayors of three other cities, to testify in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 11.

“Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement fully,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, wrote in a letter to Johnston dated Jan. 27. “To provide much-needed oversight of this matter, the Committee requests documents and information related to the sanctuary policies of Denver.”

The letter called out Johnston by name: “Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction under Colorado law, and Mayor Mike Johnston confirmed that he was prepared to go to jail to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities.”

Comer defined sanctuary jurisdictions as “states, counties or cities that put some limits on how much they are willing to cooperate with federal agencies’ efforts to deport” immigrants unlawfully staying in the U.S., saying “these jurisdictions take it upon themselves to decide what laws they will and will not abide by all for the purpose of shielding removable aliens, especially criminals, from federal law enforcement.”

“The most helpful thing Congressional Republicans could do right now is fix our broken immigration system,” Johnston said in an earlier statement to The Denver Gazette. “While they work on that, we will focus on running the cities that manage the consequences of their failure to act.”

There are about 12 states and hundreds of cities and counties with “sanctuary” laws or policies across the country, the committee’s letter said.

Johnston has also been on the radar of the Trump administration after saying he would repudiate the president’s plan for a mass deportation. More recently, Johnston said he is preparing the city for “all eventualities,” including losing federal funds, over his public objections to the president’s immigration plans.

In a recent interview with Denver Gazette media partner 9NEWS, Johnston said the city would comply with criminal immigration enforcement but not with “non-criminal” cases, and that his Johnston is prepared to sue over immigration raids at schools and churches.