NBC News has confirmed with a source familiar with the matter that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, will endorse Rick Perry this week.

Arpaio will campaign with Perry in New Hampshire this week, the source said.

The Arizona sheriff is known as a vehement backer of tough immigration laws and was a vocal supporter of his own state's controversial enforcement laws.

Perry critics have described him as soft on immigration since the Florida debate, when he called opponents "heartless" for deriding his policy of in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in Texas.