Arkansas Senate Democratic nominee Hallie Shoffner has shifted her public position on Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding after earlier vowing not to spend “one more dime” on the agency, as Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., ramps up attacks on her ahead of November’s election.
Shoffner, a farmer and first-time candidate, is running to unseat Cotton, who is seeking a third term. During a June appearance at the Immigrant Heritage Month Business Expo in Springdale, Shoffner was asked whether she would defund ICE.
“I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now,” Shoffner said at the time. “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 now the largest law enforcement agency in the country,” she added. “It has 10 times the budget of the organization that fights child sex trafficking.”
Cotton’s campaign used those comments in attack ads and accused Shoffner of donating to former Vice President Kamala Harris 25 times. In response, Shoffner clarified her stance in a Facebook post on Tuesday, writing in the comment section after Cotton was asked by a voter about her ICE position: “I don’t want to defund ICE, I want to reform it.”
Cotton pushed back sharply on the shift. “My opponent wants to defund ICE, just like Democrat socialists Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Abdul El-Sayed,” Cotton told Fox News Digital. “Doing so would protect criminals from deportation, like the illegal alien gang member who was arrested in Carroll County just days ago. Defunding ICE would make Arkansas more dangerous.”
ICE became a flashpoint in national politics earlier this year following fatal shootings in Minnesota and during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, when Senate Democrats withheld ICE funding absent stricter reforms. Senate Republicans later front-loaded $70 billion in funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Shoffner’s campaign faces steep odds in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since Mark Pryor, whom Cotton defeated in 2014. She also lacks backing from national Democratic leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. In March, Shoffner told Politico that while Democrats have leaned on affordability as a national message, Arkansans would give Schumer “the side eye, because what does he know about affordability?”
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