Republican Rep. Clay Higgins (La.) published racist comments about Haitians on Wednesday — only to delete them after being confronted by House colleagues.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Higgins called Haitians “thugs,” called Haiti the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere,” and repeated false and dehumanizing claims about pet-eating. The remarks were called out and he deleted the post, though he has not yet issued an apology.
The sideshow unfolded on the House floor Wednesday evening as representatives convened to vote on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) confronted Higgins on the floor and asked him to take down the post.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Louisiana Republican, told reporters Higgins was approached by colleagues who told him the post was “offensive.” Johnson said he then spoke to Higgins about it, after which Higgins “prayed about it and he regretted it and he pulled the post down.”
“That’s what you want the gentleman to do,” Johnson said.
On the House floor, Horsford introduced a censure resolution against Higgins. In a statement shortly thereafter, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Higgins “must be held accountable for dishonorable conduct that is unbecoming of a Member of Congress.”
Higgins’s post referenced the falsehood spread in recent weeks by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. The claims prompted bomb threats that closed schools and necessitated the deployment of state troopers and left Haitians fearful for their safety.
Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine; the town’s mayor; and other elected officials have refuted and condemned the false claims. But most Republicans have been reluctant to directly criticize Trump and Vance for repeating the accusations, and neither candidate has walked back the claim.
Higgins made his post two days after Trump said of legal immigrants, “You have to get them the hell out,” as he talked about Springfield during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
In the post, Higgins threatened that Haitians should get “out of our country before January 20th.” He also ridiculed a lawsuit against Trump and Vance brought by the leader of a Haitian nonprofit over their false claims.
GOP Rep. Clay Higgins has now deleted this tweet after he was confronted by CBC Chair Steven Horsford on the House floor, and asked to take it down, multiple sources tell me & @heatherscope >> pic.twitter.com/10c8e5SZEP
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) September 25, 2024
Higgins resigned from the St. Landry Parish sheriff’s office in 2016 after he described alleged gang members as “heathens” and “animals” in a viral video. He won his House seat months later.
On Wednesday, Jeffries questioned Johnson’s decision to name Higgins to a House task force investigating an assassination attempt on Trump. “Perhaps that’s something that House Republican leadership should reevaluate,” Jeffries told reporters.
Theodoric Meyer, Jacob Bogage and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.