Republican Clay Higgins sparked outrage after calling Haitian immigrants “thugs” and accusing them of eating pets and practicing “voodoo.”
Louisiana lawmakers described Haitians as “clown gangsters” in a now-deleted speech on X that prompted calls for censure from their colleagues.
In the post, Higgins repeated Donald Trump’s debunked claims that Haitian immigrants had been eating their neighbors’ pets.
“These Haitians are savages. They eat pets, practice voodoo, are the most disgusting country in the Western Hemisphere, have cults, and are clown gangsters,” Higgins said in the X-post.
‘All these thugs should get their heads together and get out of our country before January 20th,’ which is Inauguration Day.
Far-right Republican Rep. Clay Higgins is facing calls for censure Wednesday after repeating false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
The lawmaker posted, and then deleted, a message repeating Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants had been eating their neighbors’ pets and calling on them to leave the country.
Similar false statements by Trump have been repeatedly debunked and have only served to fuel threats and abuse against the Haitian community.
Higgins, a staunch Trump supporter, has expressed conspiracy theories in the past. He deleted the post after both Democrats and Republicans confronted him in the House of Representatives.
Congressional Black Caucus chairman Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Calif., denounced Higgins’ comments as hate speech and vowed to offer a resolution to censure Higgins for the tweet.
“These words in an official message do not reflect credibility in the House,” Horsford said. “In fact, they are inciting hate. They are inciting fear, and so it is time for this body to speak with one voice and ensure that there is accountability.”
Florida Republican Byron Donalds later confronted Higgins, telling him: “He and I had a conversation about it. I told him what I thought. I thought it was not a good statement. I thought he should take it back.”
Fellow Louisiana Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise defended Higgins, noting that his tweet had since been deleted.
The House subsequently went into recess, without taking any immediate action.
Later on Wednesday night, Higgins appeared to stand by his earlier comments despite having removed them from the network.
“I can post another controversial message tomorrow if you want. I mean, we have freedom of speech. I’ll say whatever I want,” he said. American television network
“It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like I have something stuck to the bottom of my boot. I can just pull it out and get on with my life,” Higgins continued.
Springfield city and Ohio state officials have repeatedly denied the false claim, though Trump has stepped up his efforts and vowed to try to deport members of the community.
Most of the 15,000 Haitian Americans in Springfield are in the United States legally under a federal program that allows them to stay in the country temporarily.
Congressional Black Caucus leader Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Calif., denounced Higgins’ comments as hate speech.
Trump said they were “eating pets” in Springfield, Ohio, an unsubstantiated claim that first appeared on social media and emerged during his presidency with Kamala Harris.
Clay Higgins threatened the Haitian community in a racist social media post
The Haitian community has faced a barrage of racist abuse after Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, falsely claimed that Haitians were eating pets.
Higgins was responding to a report that a nonprofit representing the Haitian community has invoked the right of a private citizen to file charges against Trump and Vance, which is permitted under Ohio law.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance filed charges over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield and for spreading rumors about pet consumption.
Higgins’ office has not responded to a request for comment on the post and its subsequent removal.
House top Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in a statement criticized Higgins’ post as “vile, racist and beneath the dignity” of the House.
“Clay Higgins’ disgusting statement about the Haitian community is vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the United States House of Representatives,” Jeffries said.
“He must be held accountable for dishonorable conduct unbecoming of a member of Congress. Clay Higgins is a racist, election-denying, conspiracy-mongering arsonist, and an embarrassment to the People’s House.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, was quick to defend Higgins, saying he had regretted the post.
“Clay Higgins is a great friend of mine and a colleague from Louisiana. He is a very frank and straightforward person. He is also a man of principle.”
JL Partners surveyed 1,000 likely voters to find out their opinion on false claims that Haitians were eating their pets. The results have a margin of error of 3 percent.
Trump supporters have used AI images and memes to portray Trump as the savior of animals
He praised Higgins for deleting the post, saying: “He prayed about it, he repented and he took the post down. That’s what you expect a gentleman to do. I’m sure he probably regrets some of the words he used, but, you know, we move on. We believe in redemption around here.”
Higgins was tackled to the ground by colleagues who said it was offensive.
“He said he went out back and prayed about it, and he repented, and he took the pole down.”
Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost chided Higgins on X: “One of the most racist and bigoted posts I’ve ever seen from a fellow member of Congress. And from his official government account, too. It’s disgusting.”
Higgins has periodically courted controversy with social media posts since his election to Congress in 2016, including a Facebook post in 2020 in which he promised he would “drop” armed protesters “where they stand.”
More recently, he has spread a number of MAGA conspiracy theories, including that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was orchestrated by the FBI.
In 1992, Higgins was an author on anti-black racism while an Army military policy officer, and described former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke as “a colleague” during Duke’s failed campaign for president.
“Even though David is a colleague and all that, the guy is a Nazi, and that’s a real problem,” Higgins said, as quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Since Trump made the false claims during a debate against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, his rival in the Nov. 5 presidential election, Springfield has faced a wave of bomb threats to schools and other facilities.
