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Issue Spotlight: Where Arkansas’ U.S. Senate candidates stand on immigration policy

Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton has been one of the leading supporters of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations and immigration enforcement.

Members of U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January, drawing national outrage. Cotton has maintained his support for the agencies and Trump’s immigration policies in the run-up to the March 3 primary election, in which Republicans Micah Ashby and Jeb Little are challenging Cotton’s bid for a third Senate term.

Democrats Hallie Shoffner and Ethan Dunbar are vying for their party’s nomination in the race.

Here’s where the five candidates stand on immigration enforcement:

Cotton: Overhaul the system

Cotton’s campaign website describes the current state of immigration into the United States as an invasion and a crisis.

“We need to keep getting criminal illegals out of our country, and we need to end chain migration and move to a system that selects immigrants with valuable skills,” his website states.

Last year, Cotton introduced the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act, which would reduce the number of green cards the U.S. issues by more than half and cap refugee admissions at 50,000. It would also prevent immigrants from becoming citizens if they received public benefits while legal permanent residents unless the person sponsoring their legal residence has reimbursed the federal government for the cost of the benefits.

GOP challengers’ views range from caution to enthusiasm for ICE

Little and Ashby both said Arkansas voters have told them they support the Trump administration’s efforts to deport immigrants.

Ashby, a pastor, said she opposes the “inflammatory remarks” from Minnesota Democrats who have condemned Border Patrol and ICE’s actions, such as U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar calling the shootings “state-sanctioned violence.”

“We need elected officials who are actually going to help the situation and not pour gasoline on an already-lit fire,” Ashby said.

Ashby expressed trepidation about federal agents’ violence toward civilians, but Little said they “could ramp it up.”

“There are going to be instances where things get ugly, but that’s just how bad the situation’s gotten,” said Little, an Arkansas State Police trooper.

Democratic candidates: Immigration system is ‘broken’

Shoffner and Dunbar both said the recent violence against civilians in Minnesota, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, is both inappropriate and ineffective. Dunbar called the violence “cruel and ugly,” and Shoffner said federal agents’ actions are “further dividing the nation.’

“I think that everyone believes we should have immigration reform, but that everyone also believes that this isn’t it…and everyone would like both Democrats and Republicans to come to the table and work out a real solution,” Shoffner said.

ICE had $85 billion at its disposal as of last year after receiving a funding spike in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. The end of January and beginning of February saw a partial government shutdown after congressional Democrats demanded new regulations on ICE in response to the killings of two Minneapolis residents.

Shoffner and Dunbar agreed that the federal government should redirect funding to law enforcement initiatives that actually reduce crime and are held to standards of accountability.

“Tom Cotton seems much more interested in spending money on an agency that does not currently have to hold themselves to the same standards as our local law enforcement, at the expense of fighting real injustice in this country,” Shoffner said.

Both candidates referred to the immigration system as “broken.” Dunbar, however, said he would not support defunding ICE, which some top Democrats have called for in light of the Minnesota killings.

“If they operate in accordance with their mission, with guardrails, then I think ICE serves a vital service to our country,” said Dunbar, the mayor of Lewisville in south Arkansas.

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