Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) Hillary Clinton said in an interview Wednesday that the militia members who have taken over a small federally owned wildlife refuge in Oregon should "should be charged."

Clinton waited day to comment on the issue days after the men, led in part by Ammon Bundy, the son of anti-government Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, took over the government office. She previously had declined multiple questions about the issue from reporters at events in New Hampshire and Iowa.

"I understand that the occupiers of the federal land have said that they will leave if the local community doesn't want them, and from what I'm seeing in the news, the local community doesn't want them," Clinton said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun . "They should leave -- leave peacefully -- but they should be charged for the illegal action they have undertaken, trespassing, breaking and entering and the like."

The militia members took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge days ago, moved to denounce the five-year sentencing of Dwight and Steven Hammond -- father-and-son ranchers who were convicted of arson

They have yet to specify how long they plan to stay, but some militia members have said they are prepared to die in the protest.

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