Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., known 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 Related Press story a couple of Haitian nonprofit group that filed a citizen prison 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. Consuming 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 fees in opposition to our President and VP,” he stated, 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 might be the day Trump and Vance could be sworn into workplace in the event that they win November’s election.
Subodh Chandra, the legal professional representing the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the nonprofit group that filed the fees, stated the publish “just isn’t a dog-whistle however the trumpeting of a transparent risk.”
He stated that “in a purposeful Home of Representatives beneath a accountable speaker who cares about integrity, this may be addressed swiftly by an Ethics Committee investigation and censure or expulsion. However it is a Home majority that indulges antisemitism and racism, so we’ll see if the Republican management does something in any respect.”
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., informed reporters that Higgins “is a pricey buddy of mine and a colleague from Louisiana and a really frank and outspoken particular person.” He stated that he’d spoken to Higgins on the Home 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. Neither did a consultant for the Trump marketing campaign.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., known as Higgins’ feedback “vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the US Home of Representatives” and stated he “should 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 Home ground early Wednesday night.
“They’re inciting hate. They’re inciting worry,” Horsford stated.
“It’s time to finish hate and the rhetoric of hate, and that it isn’t changing into on any member to proceed to push the sort of rhetoric on any platform, not to mention from the Home of Representatives,” he added.
Majority Chief Steve Scalise, Higgins’ fellow Republican congressman from Louisiana, stated, “The tweet has been deleted already and eliminated, however I object to the movement.”
The movement was discovered to be out of order.
Horsford informed reporters afterwards that he’d spoken to Higgins earlier and that Higgins had informed him he wouldn’t take away the publish.
“He didn’t, for my part, 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 stated. “He truly informed me, no, he wouldn’t, after which that’s once we began the motion on the ground.”
The overwhelming majority of Haitians in Springfield are within the nation legally after having been granted momentary protected standing by the Division of Homeland Safety. Trump and Vance have vowed to finish that safety and instantly deport them if they’re elected.
“If Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these folks at the moment are right here legally, I’m nonetheless going to name them an ‘unlawful alien,’” Vance informed reporters at an occasion in North Carolina this month.
Higgins is a staunch Trump ally who has turn out to be recognized for utilizing heated rhetoric, together with saying final 12 months of particular counsel Jack Smith, “I’ll simply say that his days are numbered and American patriots will not be gonna stand idly by, good sir, and permit our republic to dissolve.”
After a 2017 terrorist assault in London, Higgins stated anybody even suspected of being an Islamic terrorist must be killed.
“Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect must be granted any measure of quarter,” he wrote on Fb. “Their supposed entry to the American homeland must be summarily denied. Each conceivable measure must be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, establish them, and kill them. Kill all of them.”
He additionally made headlines final 12 months for bodily eradicating an activist from an outside information convention on Capitol Hill.
He stated in a publish on Twitter afterward that the activist “turned very disruptive and threatening, in violation of the regulation,” and had “aggressively disrupted Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and approached her in a threatening method.”