The Democratic nominee for Senate in Arkansas, Hallie Shoffner, said she "would vote to defund ICE" if elected this fall, adding that she "would not spend one more dime" on the immigration enforcement agency and does not "care whether these are folks that have documents or not," video footage shows.
"I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now," Shoffner said at the Immigrant Heritage Month Business Expo on June 7. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created not that long ago, and it no longer serves the purpose it was originally created for."
"I would not spend one more dime on ICE, because—not just because of the human dignity issue, but also the fact that it is not the largest law enforcement agency in the country," she continued. "It has 10 times the budget of the organization that fights child sex trafficking. Let’s not spend one more dime until we start fixing the real issues that we have in this problem, which is the fact that we’re the hungriest state in the country."
Shoffner also responded to a question about what she "would do for the immigrant community" and "undocumented community" by saying she does not "care whether these are folks that have documents or not."
"I think one of the—one of the things we have to do first is we have to address the fact that we no longer respect law and order in this country," she said. "Clearly, people ask me—people ask me about immigration all the time, and here’s the thing I say first: So, the first thing to know is that the immigrant community in Arkansas and the United States, and I don’t care whether these are folks that have documents or not, this is a community that is essential to the fabric—the social, cultural, and economic fabric—of this country."
News of the remarks comes as Shoffner campaigns to unseat Republican incumbent senator Tom Cotton (Ark.) in a state that backed President Donald Trump by more than 30 points in 2024. She has not placed opposition to ICE at the center of that campaign—the "Issues" page on Shoffner's website does not mention "ICE" or "immigration," and Shoffner's only X post mentioning ICE calls on the "people running" the agency to "act like normal people."
Shoffner’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Though Shoffner is campaigning as a lifelong farmer, she spent years working as a left-wing activist before hiring a marketing firm ahead of her Senate campaign launch to build a "new brand" as "FarmHerHallie," the Washington Free Beacon reported. Shoffner served as executive director of Seis Puentes, an Arkansas nonprofit that helps illegal aliens learn "how systems work" in the United States.
Shoffner has emphasized "fairness" for "everyone who works hard" during her campaign. Just before launching her bid, though, she appeared before the Arkansas House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee to testify against a bill that would "prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment" on the basis of race by state agencies and public schools. Shoffner argued that the bill would hurt "groups like people of color."