Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., referred to as Haiti the “nastiest nation within the western hemisphere” in a publish on social media Wednesday, saying migrants from the Caribbean nation, nearly all of whom are within the U.S. legally, ought to “get their ass out of our nation.”
Higgins rant on X — which was deleted hours later — got here in response to an Associated Press story on a Haitian nonprofit that filed a citizen legal cost in opposition to former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance for his or her repeated baseless claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, together with Trump’s assertion on the presidential debate they have been “consuming the canine” and “consuming the cats.”
Higgins’ publish amplified the debunked pet declare, which was adopted by dozens of bomb threats within the metropolis.
“Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest nation within the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters… however damned in the event that they don’t really feel all refined now, submitting expenses in opposition to our President and VP,” he mentioned, referring to Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees Trump and Vance, respectively.
“All these thugs higher get their thoughts proper and their ass out of our nation earlier than January twentieth,” the publish concluded. That can be the day Trump and Vance can be sworn into workplace in the event that they win November’s election.
Subodh Chandra, the lawyer representing the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the nonprofit that filed the fees, mentioned the publish “shouldn’t be a dog-whistle however the trumpeting of a transparent risk.”
He mentioned “in a useful House of Representatives below a accountable speaker who cares about integrity, this may be addressed swiftly by an Ethics Committee investigation and censure or expulsion. But it is a House majority that indulges antisemitism and racism, so we’ll see if the Republican management does something in any respect.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson instructed reporters that Higgins “is a pricey good friend of mine and a colleague from Louisiana, and a really frank and outspoken individual.” He mentioned he’d spoken to Higgins on the House ground in regards to the publish and that Higgins “went to the again and he prayed about it, and he regretted it, and he pulled the publish down.”
A spokesperson for Higgins didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the publish, nor did a consultant for the Trump marketing campaign.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to as Higgins’ feedback “vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the United States House of Representatives” and mentioned he “have to be held accountable for dishonorable conduct that’s unbecoming of a Member of Congress.”
Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev., moved to censure Higgins on the House ground early Wednesday night.
“They are inciting hate. They are inciting concern,” Horsford mentioned.
“It is time to finish hate and the rhetoric of hate, and that it’s not changing into on any member to proceed to push the sort of rhetoric on any platform, not to mention from the House of Representatives,” he added.
Higgins’ fellow Republican congressman from Louisiana, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, mentioned, “The tweet has been deleted already and eliminated, however I object to the movement.”
The movement was discovered to be out of order.
Horsford instructed reporters afterwards that he’d spoken to Higgins earlier and that the Louisiana congressman had instructed him he wouldn’t take away the publish.
“He didn’t, in my opinion, present any regret, didn’t perceive how his rhetoric is contributing to the sensation of individuals being harassed and threatened and feeling unsafe in their very own communities, and that’s the reason I requested him to take away the publish,” Horsford mentioned. “He really instructed me, no, he wouldn’t, after which that’s after we began the motion on the ground.”
The overwhelming majority of Haitians in Springfield are within the nation legally after being granted momentary protected standing by the Department of Homeland Security. Trump and Vance have vowed to finish that safety and instantly deport them if elected.
“If Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these folks are actually right here legally, I’m nonetheless going to name them an ‘unlawful alien,’” Vance instructed reporters at an occasion in North Carolina earlier this month.
Higgins is a staunch Trump ally who’s develop into identified for utilizing heated rhetoric, together with saying final yr of particular counsel Jack Smith, “I’ll simply say that his days are numbered and American patriots are usually not gonna stand idly by, good sir, and permit our republic to dissolve.”
Following a 2017 terror assault in London, Higgins mentioned anybody even suspected of being an Islamic terrorist ought to be killed.
“Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect ought to be granted any measure of quarter,” he wrote in a Facebook publish. “Their meant entry to the American homeland ought to be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure ought to be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, determine them, and kill them. Kill all of them.”
He additionally made headlines final yr for bodily eradicating an activist from an out of doors information convention on Capitol Hill.
He mentioned in a publish on Twitter afterwards the activist “turned very disruptive and threatening, in violation of the legislation” and had “aggressively disrupted Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and approached her in a threatening method.”