Red state Dem faces fury for suggesting illegal aliens should replace American workers

A Democratic candidate for U.S.

Senate from Arkansas is facing scrutiny for comments she recently made on a podcast suggesting that illegal alien workers are more valuable than their American counterparts.

"I want to talk about the fact that our immigration system is backlogged, bureaucratic and doesn't actually help anybody, including American employers who want folks who want to follow the law," Hallie Shoffner said on the "Free Arkansas Podcast" during an hour-long discussion about a wide spectrum of political issues.

Shoffner, a farmer, is running against Sen.

Tom Cotton, R-Ark. in the deep red state.

DEM SENATE NOMINEE CHANGES TUNE ON ICE AFTER VOWING NOT 'ONE MORE DIME' FOR AGENCY She continued by saying she had a discussion with a fellow farmer, who she said was a Republican, about foreign labor.

"Labor is a huge issue, especially when you don't have a large workforce," she said.

"And every farmer will tell you, 'yeah, 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 just for one of them because of how hard they work," she said.

Shoffner then demanded a pathway for illegal aliens to work in the United States legally, claiming "when they're good workers, we pay them well, they're good workers, they spend money here [and] they have family here." Cotton's campaign accused Shoffner of implying that she has hired illegal aliens.

OMAR'S NEW LEGISLATION TARGETING ICE SPARKS OUTRAGE WHEN THE INTERNET SEES WHAT'S IN IT: 'UN-AMERICAN' "Hallie Shoffner’s campaign isn’t denying that she employed illegal aliens," campaign spokesman James Arnold told Fox News Digital.

"They’re also standing by Hallie Shoffner’s claim that just one illegal immigrant is more valuable than five American citizens." " Every Democrat running for Congress needs to answer if they agree with Hallie Shoffner’s belief that illegal aliens are worth more than Americans," Arnold said.

In a response to Fox News Digital, Shoffner's campaign manager Anna-Lee Pittman said the candidate's comments were taken out of context, and accused Cotton of being unwilling to have a conversation to help "fix the immigration system." Cotton, she said, "spends his days combing through video clips of Hallie Shoffner to find any possible inelegant phrase or line that he can chop up to misrepresent an hour-long conversation and present it with no context," noting that "[i]n this response, Shoffner relayed a conversation she had with another farmer about challenges with labor." Shoffner once joined the chorus of left-wing calls to defund U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).