Louisiana's Republican Representative Clay Higgins doubled down on a now-deleted racist tweet about Haitian migrants that sparked intense backlash.
Republicans have spread hateful rumors about Haitian immigrants "eating cats" after former President Donald Trump made outrageous, racist, and patently false claims earlier this month during the presidential debate.
Trump promoted the unfounded allegation that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were consuming household pets in response to a question about immigration:
They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
Moderator David Muir swiftly corrected Trump when he repeated the debunked claim that gained traction online after right-wing social media accounts spread the unfounded story, despite no actual evidence supporting it. Muir pointed out that officials in Springfield, Ohio, including the city manager, confirmed no such incidents of cat-eating had occurred.
Shortly afterward, Governor Mike DeWine announced at a news conference that the Ohio State Highway Patrol would be deployed to monitor schools in Springfield following 33 bomb threats, and dozens of state troopers from the mobile field force were stationed at all 17 school buildings in the Springfield City School District to ensure security throughout the school day and after dismissal.
In response to the news that a nonprofit leader representing the Haitian community invoked the right of a private citizen to file charges against Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, on Tuesday—citing the chaos and threats Springfield has faced since Trump first promoted the conspiracy theory—Higgins posted the following racist remarks from his official X account:
"Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu [sic], nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters... but damned if they don't feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP."
"All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of the country before January 20th."
You can see his post below.
@RepClayHiggins/X
Despite the controversy, Higgins told CNN he stood by his remarks:
“It’s all true. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want."
“It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.”
He was also defended by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who gave the following statement to reporters:
“Look, he was approached on the floor by colleagues who said that was offensive. He said he went to the back, and he prayed about it and he regretted it, and he pulled the post down.”
“I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN that Higgins' remarks are both "disgusting" and "dangerous," urging Republicans to consider removing Higgins from the bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump, especially in light of his comments about Haitian migrants.
Similarly, Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called on the House Committee on Ethics to investigate Higgins' posts on X and urged the House to censure him over the remarks. Horsford disclosed that he confronted Higgins on the House floor, leading to a heated exchange, after which Horsford stated he would introduce a resolution to censure the unrepentant Higgins.
Many have also condemned Higgins' remarks.
Higgins is no stranger to controversy.
Higgins, who has never confirmed his vaccination status, has been criticized since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States for pushing back against vaccine and mask mandates, once writing that he does not support what public health experts have called common sense safety measures.
Higgins has also advocated for violence against Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators, and at one point had posts deleted per Facebook's content policy after he suggested that armed demonstrators should be met with force to "eliminate the threat," later asserting that the United States is "being manipulated into a new era of government control."
Last year, in the wake of a mass shooting that killed six people in a Tennessee school, he called it "intellectually unsound" to say there is such a thing as gun violence and claimed that the leading cause of death for children in the United States is abortion.
