Press Release
ICYMI: Cotton on What Defunding ICE Would Mean for Arkansas After Shoffner Admits She Would Defund the Agency
“When you defund ICE, that’s not just federal law enforcement. We have over 100 police departments and sheriff’s departments here in Arkansas that work with ICE to protect our state from dangerous illegal criminal aliens.” – Senator Cotton
ICYMI – Senator Tom Cotton (R) joined America’s Newsroom on Fox News to discuss the midterms and his opponent’s support for defunding ICE. He noted in particular that defunding ICE would hurt Arkansas law enforcement officers, not just the federal agency.
In June, Democrat Hallie Shoffner admitted on tape that she would vote to defund ICE. In July, she stood by her comments, as reported by KATV. But in September, Hallie Shoffner claimed in a Facebook post that now, she does not support defunding ICE.
Key excerpts from the interview are below.
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Senator Cotton: Yeah, Dana, I mean, you look around the country and the Democrats are nominating radicals, that they want to defund our military. They want to take away your health insurance on the job. They want to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It’s not just in more Democratic states, like Maine or in Michigan. Look here in Arkansas, my liberal opponent has said she wants to defund ICE as well. And when you defund ICE, that’s not just federal law enforcement. We have over a 100 police departments and sheriff’s departments here in Arkansas that work with ICE to protect our state from dangerous illegal criminal aliens.
Now, my liberal opponent realizes that’s not very popular in Arkansas, so she’s tried to walk it back. It’s pretty amusing.
Dana Perino: Can I show people that? This is what she said June 7th, watch.
Hallie Shoffner on tape: I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created not that long ago. Um, and it no longer serves the purpose it was originally created for.
Dana Perino: Then, just recently, she said, “I don’t want to defund ICE. I want to reform it.” That’s a hard position to change in two months.
Senator Cotton: Yeah, Dana, it goes to show that even in Arkansas, the radical Democrats’ instinct is to defund ICE because they want open borders.
Now, again, I think she recognizes in Arkansas, that’s unpopular, but she’s no different from Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, or the Democratic candidates in places like Maine and Florida and Texas as well.
They all want to defund ICE, which, again, means defunding the police right here in Arkansas, because our police and our sheriffs work cooperatively with ICE to protect our state from dangerous criminal aliens.