Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., called Haiti the “worst country in the Western Hemisphere” in a social media post Wednesday, saying migrants from the Caribbean, most of whom are in the United States legally, “must get their due.” let the donkey get out of our country.”
Higgins responded to X, which was deleted a few hours later Associated Press a story about a Haitian non-profit organization that appealed to a citizen criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance repeated unreasonable claims About migrants in Springfield, Ohio, including Trump saying they “eat dogs” and “eat cats” at the presidential debate.
Higgins’ post fueled a controversial claim about pets and followed suit dozens of bomb threats in the city.
“Okay. These Haitians are savages. They eat pets, voodoo, the worst country in the western hemisphere, cults, slap thugs…but damn, they don’t feel perfect now, they’re impeaching our president and vice president,” he said. Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates Trump and Vance.
“It would be better if all these bandits gather their wits and get their asses out of our country by January 20,” the article concluded. On that day, Trump and Vance will be sworn in if they win the November election.
Subodh Chandra, a lawyer representing the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the nonprofit organization that brought the charges, said the post was “not a dog whistle, but the sound of a clear threat.”
He said: “In a functional House of Representatives led by a responsible Speaker who cares about integrity, this would be dealt with quickly by an Ethics Committee investigation and censure or expulsion. But this is a House majority that condones anti-Semitism and racism, so we’ll see. Republican leadership if he does anything at all.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Higgins is “a dear friend of mine and a fellow Louisianan who is very honest and outspoken.” He said he talked to Higgins about the post on the House floor and that Higgins “went back and prayed about it and was sorry and took the post down.”
A spokesman for Higgins did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a representative for the Trump campaign.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Higgins’ comments “despicable, racist and beneath the dignity of the United States House of Representatives” and said he should be held “accountable for dishonorable conduct unbecoming a member of Congress.”
Rep. Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev., moved to criticize Higgins on the House floor Tuesday morning.
“They incite hatred. They incite fear,” Horsford said.
“It is time to put an end to hate and hateful rhetoric, and it is no member’s business to perpetuate such rhetoric on any platform, let alone the House of Representatives,” he said.
Higgins’ fellow Republican congressman from Louisiana, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, said: “The tweet has already been deleted and deleted, but I object to the motion.”
The motion was found to be illegal.
Horsford later told reporters that he had spoken with Higgins earlier and that the Louisiana congressman told him he would not remove the post.
“I don’t think he showed any remorse, he didn’t understand how his rhetoric helped people feel harassed and threatened and feel safe in their own communities, and that’s why I asked him to remove that statement. write,” Horsford said. “He actually told me, no, he wouldn’t, and that’s when we started moving on the ground.”
The vast majority of Haitians in Springfield are in the country legally after being granted a permit temporary protected status by the Department of Homeland Security. Trump and Vance have vowed to end those protections and immediately deport them if elected.
“If Kamala Harris waves her illegal wand and says these people are here legally, I’m still going to call them ‘illegal aliens,'” Vance told reporters at an event in North Carolina earlier this month.
Higgins is a staunch ally of Trump, who has become famous for using fiery rhetoric, among other things. says last year from the special counsel Jack Smith“Let me just say that his days are over, and American patriots will not stand idly by, good sir, and allow our republic to fall.”
After 2017 Terrorist attack in LondonHiggins said that everyone is even suspected of being an Islamic terrorist must be killed.
“No radicalized Islamic suspect should be given a quarter sentence,” he wrote on Facebook. “Their entry into the American homeland must be categorically denied. All possible measures should be taken to catch them. Hunt them down, identify them and kill them. Kill them all.”
He too crazye headlines For physically removing an activist from a public press conference on Capitol Hill last year.
He later tweeted that the activist was “very disruptive and threatening in breaking the law” and “aggressively harassed and approached Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in a threatening manner.”