Arkansas Democratic Senate nominee Hallie Shoffner has revised her position on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stating she aims to reform the agency rather than defund it. This shift follows criticism from her opponent, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who has attacked her previous statements on the matter.
During an event in June, Shoffner stated, "I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now." She argued that the agency, created relatively recently, no longer served its original purpose and consumed a larger budget than organizations focused on combating child sex trafficking. "I would not spend one more dime on ICE," she added at the time, citing human dignity concerns.
Cotton's campaign has utilized Shoffner's earlier remarks in attack advertisements. In response to voter inquiries on social media regarding Shoffner's stance on ICE, Cotton stated, "My opponent wants to defund ICE, just like Democrat socialists Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and Abdul El-Sayed. Doing so would protect criminals from deportation... Defunding ICE would make Arkansas more dangerous."
Shoffner addressed the controversy in a Facebook comment, asserting, "I don’t want to defund ICE, I want to reform it." This revised position represents a departure from her earlier vow to withhold further funding.
Arkansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2014, when Sen. Mark Pryor was defeated by Cotton. Shoffner's campaign is considered one of the more challenging races for Democrats in the current midterm cycle. She has also distanced herself from national Democratic leadership, expressing skepticism about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's understanding of affordability concerns in Arkansas.