Arkansas Democrat Hallie Shoffner: ‘We’d Trade Five Americans’ for One ‘Undocumented Immigrant’
Jasmyn Jordan
Breitbart
September 16, 2026
Hallie Shoffner, who is running to unseat Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), defended “undocumented” farm workers as exceptionally hardworking, after previously saying she grew up around “undocumented” farm workers, discussing Mexican H-2A employees on her family farm, defending farmers’ reliance on foreign-born labor, and leading a nonprofit that assisted “undocumented Hispanics.”
“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,” Shoffner said on Free Arkansas with host Andy McNeill. “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. They spend money here. They have family here,” Shoffner said.
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Laura Loomer highlighted the interview on X, writing, “The facts are clear: Farmer Hallie loves putting illegal aliens first, which is why she is UNFIT to serve in the U.S. Senate.”
In a report on Loomered, Loomer also pointed to a portion of the interview in which host Andy McNeill questioned why ICE agents needed to dress like “SEAL Team Six.” Shoffner responded that the use of bulletproof vests “seems kind of performative to me.”
In June, Shoffner said immigrants “whether they have documents or not” are essential to the country’s “social, cultural, and economic fabric” and contribute to the small-business economy. Shoffner was then asked whether she would vote to defund ICE and answered, “I would vote to defund ICE as it exists right now.” She said the agency no longer served its original purpose and that she “would not spend one more dime on ICE,” before pointing to hunger among Arkansas children as an issue she would address.
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Shoffner’s connection to immigrant communities predates her Senate campaign. She previously served as executive director of Seis Puentes, a Little Rock nonprofit focused on the Latino community. In 2012, she told the Arkansas Times that one of the organization’s goals was helping “undocumented Hispanics” navigate American systems and “engage them in the process.” Seis Puentes also partnered with North Little Rock to help illegal immigrants obtain “valid photo ID.”
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