Press Release
Seven Times, Hallie Shoffner Refuses to Answer Whether She Knowingly Employed Illegal Aliens, Falsified Tax Documents
Appearing on the Steve Finnegan Show October 8th, U.S. Senate candidate and Democrat Hallie Shoffner refused to answer seven different times whether she employed illegal aliens and falsified tax documents.
The questions came after a whistleblower and former senior employee said that, contrary to her previous public statements, Hallie Shoffner knowingly hired illegal aliens on her farm and falsified tax documents.
“These are simple questions. Did she in fact hire illegal aliens on her farm, did she falsify tax documents to conceal what she had done? She’s been asked on numerous occasions, but she’s refused to speak to it,” said Senator Cotton on the Scott Jennings Show. “I think the people of Arkansas deserve an answer on not just whether she was hiring illegals, but falsifying tax documents.”
“Mrs. Shoffner is now dodging questions about whether she employed illegal aliens on her farm,” said James Arnold, Cotton campaign spokesman. “She keeps repeating the same line, that she did use an H2A program for some workers, but she has refused to say whether she also hired illegal immigrants. Hallie Shoffner should come clean and tell Arkansans the truth.”
Excerpts from the interview and background may be found below. An audio portion from the interview may be found here.
Finnegan: So, I’m going to ask you flat out, have you ever hired an illegal immigrant on your farm?
Shoffner: I am telling you again, we used the legal pathways to hire immigrant labor, including the H2A visa program…
Finnegan: So, you’ve never hired an illegal immigrant?
Shoffner: …and the thing about the H2A visa program is, I would really like your listeners to know, because I do think this is important, and I would hope that your listeners also understand the kind of labor shortages we’re experiencing in the agricultural industry, is that the H2A program is a legal part of our immigration system, and it doesn’t work. It is expensive…
Finnegan: Okay, well, we’ll get into whether or not that works, but once again, I have to ask you, did you hire…
Shoffner: Steve, I have told you, we used the H2A visa program
Finnegan: Okay, then my follow-up to that would be, and again, this is well all over the place where an employee of yours that nobody else has named, so I’ll give you the chance to name him again if you want to do or not to do like the farmer.
The Democrat Gazette asked you the same question in your September 27th interview, and I read that, if you hired illegals, and you said no to them. And then this guy has come out who identifies himself as a senior employee of yours. And he said you did hire illegals, at least three. And it was that you used the social security numbers of the children who were born here, and obviously birthright citizenship is something else we can talk about if you want in need of reform.
So the question is, yes or no, did you hire an illegal immigrant on your farm or on your seed company?
Shoffner: Which I have already answered, but Steve, let’s talk about the allegations here. So let’s, yeah, let’s, let me address this because you have asked. So the Free Beacon, a biased website, is quoting an unnamed individual who is claiming to be a former employee with allegations that have absolutely no concrete evidence.
Finnegan: Okay. And that’s why I’m asking if you want to name who you think it is.
Shoffner: How could I do that? It’s an unnamed individual who is claiming to be a former employee. How could I possibly name somebody when it’s someone that I have no idea who they are and they’re simply claiming to be a former employee. I will say this. This is why people don’t like politics. Tom Cotton is so scared in this race of a farmer and a 1st time candidate, that he is promoting unfounded allegations. And this is…
Finnegan: Well, I did not get any of this from the Cotton campaign. I can tell you that. I can tell you he commented on it. I know he was, I follow Scott, and he was on with Scott and talked about it today, but you know, it’s been all over the whole state. So that’s why I’m giving you this opportunity to clarify it?
Shoffner: Well, I hope I certainly hope that I have.
***
Finnegan: Well, I mean, I don’t want to pivot off this. I still haven’t felt like you’ve answered the question, yes or no–I did or I did not hire an illegal?
Shoffner: What have I not answered? We use the H2A visa program for immigrant labor.
Finnegan: So you’re saying every person that worked on your farm had an H2A visa, and you’re denying this allegation that you hired these 3 illegals and used their kids’ social security numbers. So you’re denying that you did that?
Shoffner: Steve, I use the legal pathways to hire immigrant labor, the H2A visa program.
Background
Speaking on the Free Arkansas podcast on September 9th, U.S. Senate candidate Hallie Shoffner said:
“Every farmer will tell you at one point, we did, or still do, employ undocumented immigrants, and it’s absolutely ridiculous that these folks are being rounded up because they’re hardworking people. They’re some of the best people we know, and honestly, we’d trade five Americans for just one of them because of how hard they work.”
“And why is it that there’s no pathway for them to work here legally when they’re good workers? We pay them well,” Shoffner said.
Following those remarks, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette asked Hallie Shoffner whether she had employed illegal aliens. Shoffner said she “only hired immigrants through the federal H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers Program,” which allows farmers to bring foreign nationals to the United States for seasonal work, and “went through the added expense and trouble to make sure her hires were legal.”
“That’s a lie,” the former employee said.
“Me and her talked about the full-time one quite a bit, being a risk to us. She referred to him as having a ‘questionable social security number,'” the former employee told the Free Beacon. “But I realized what was going on when I had to pass out W2s in the spring, and his W2 I know had his son’s name on it, so I’m gonna say they were using his son’s social security number. The part-time [workers], their W2s had their daughters.”
“Her and her parents always talked about them not being legal,” the former employee continued. “And so I figured out how they were getting W2s.”