Faulty reasoning signals

• Hasty Generalization - 20%
• Biased Writer Voice - 10.1%
• Appeal to Emotion - 9.5%

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Arkansas Democratic Senate candidate Hallie Shoffner, who is challenging Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), said she would vote to defund ICE as it exists now and accused the government of treating immigrants, including “undocumented” immigrants, as enemies.

In a clip provided exclusively to Breitbart News from June during an Immigrant Heritage Month Exposition sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an attendee asked Shoffner what she would do “for the immigrant community, for the undocumented community.”

“Well, I think 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,” Shoffner responded. “The first thing to know is that the immigrant community in Arkansas, in 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, that is number one.”

“Number two, folks talk about securing the border. They talk about supporting violent criminals, but that is not what is happening right now,” she continued. “Right now, the government is treating an entire community as if they were an enemy, and then they are punishing those who step up for them, and that has to stop.”

Shoffner said people ask her, “What is the purpose of government when it comes to immigration?”

“Number one, enforce good laws. Number two, don’t make laws that don’t make sense. Number three, treat human beings like human beings, and number four, don’t be an asshole,” Shoffner said.

“And that’s exactly what our government is doing right now,” she added.

Shoffner said the United States needs to “fix immigration” while recognizing that people in the country, “whether they have documents or not,” are contributing to the economy.

“But what we have to recognize is the folks that are here, whether they have documents or not, are contributing to the small business economy, and the small business economy is what runs America,” Shoffner said. “Why not create an immigration system that does two things? Number one, with human dignity at the forefront, and number two, it asks small businesses and the immigrants themselves, ‘What do you need to be successful? Not just to contribute to your community and your family, but to the economic fabric of this country.’ That’s how I want to help.”

Shoffner was then asked, “So, would you vote to defund ICE?”

“I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now,” Shoffner said. “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 not just because of the human dignity issue, but also the fact that it is now the largest law enforcement agency in the country.”

“It has 10 times the budget of the organization that fights child sex trafficking,” she continued. “Let’s not spend one more dime until we start fixing the real issues that’s happening, which is the fact that we’re the hungriest state in the country. There are 180,000 hungry children in Arkansas. Why don’t we start talking about that?”

Arkansas Secretary of State Cole Jester exclusively told Breitbart News, “I wake up thankful for the men and women of ICE who are risking their safety every single day. Anyone who does not support their mission is fundamentally unsuited to represent Arkansas.”

Samantha Cantrell of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said in a statement to Breitbart News, “Hallie Shoffner wants to defund ICE because she supports Kamala Harris’s open-border policies that would make Arkansas less safe. Shoffner is a radical leftist pretending to be a moderate farmer — what a total liberal fraud.”

Shoffner served as executive director of Seis Puentes, a Little Rock-based nonprofit, and told the Arkansas Times in 2012 that one of the group’s goals was helping “undocumented Hispanics” navigate American systems and “engage them in the process.” Seis Puentes also partnered with the City of North Little Rock to help illegal immigrants obtain “valid photo ID,” allowing them to more easily access public services. Shoffner previously hired a marketing company to rebrand herself as “FarmHer Hallie.”

Shoffner is Arkansas’s Democratic nominee challenging Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) in a state President Donald Trump won by more than 30 points in 2024. Although Shoffner has branded herself as a farmer who is “not much for political parties,” Breitbart News reported in May that her campaign paid $47,500 to Good Influence, a Louisville-based digital and influencer firm also used by Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin criticized the connection at the time, saying Shoffner and Platner “share the same values.” Platner later suspended his Senate campaign on July 8 after sexual assault allegations prompted scores of Democrats to call for him to step down, though he denied the allegations.