Most House lawmakers left Washington on Thursday until after November’s election with a firestorm of controversy surrounding Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins.
The Republican congressman is facing backlash from colleagues after posting – and later deleting – a social media post containing inflammatory comments about Haitian immigrants, calling them "thugs" and describing their homeland as "nastiest country in the western hemisphere."
He also repeated baseless claims that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, which have been amplified by the Republican presidential ticket of former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
On Thursday morning, The Hill reported that Higgins tried to clarify his comments to reporters, saying that he never intended to “intentionally hurt someone’s feelings” and that his post was specifically in reference to Haitian gangs.
“And the unintended impact that was expressed very sincerely from one of my colleagues very graciously, that touched me as a gentleman,” he added, according to the Hill.
In an interview with CNN, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., insisted that he intends to “follow through” on his effort to censure Higgins for the comments, despite GOP leadership in the lower chamber blocking his initial attempt to do so on the House floor Wednesday night.
“It’s not about the next election, it is about everyday people in America feeling targeted,” Horsford said, referring to the fact that the House is now out of session until after Nov. 5, meaning the issue would not be addressed until after voters take to ballot boxes across the country. “Today it's the Haitians. Who will it be tomorrow?”
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Higgins described Haitians in racist terms Wednesday afternoon.
"Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, 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," he wrote, referring to a nonprofit representing the Haitian community filing private-citizen charges against Trump and Vance. The Haitian Bridge Alliance brought the charges over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield, including repeated bomb threats, since Trump first spread the false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate.
He added in the post that Haitians should get “out of our country before January 20th,” when Trump would be inaugurated as president if he wins the election.
Horsford told CNN he confronted Higgins on the House floor on Wednesday and asked him to take it down. Higgins, according to Horsford, first said he would “pray on it” before telling the Nevada Democrat he would not delete it. Higgins did later delete it.
Outside the chamber on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called Higgins a “dear friend” and a “very frank and outspoken person.”
He praised Higgins for deleting the post, saying “he prayed about it, and he regretted it and he pulled the post down. That’s what you want a gentleman to do. I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used, but, you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here.”
Asked about the post by Higgins at Thursday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred to the attacks on the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield more broadly as “dangerous.”
“The baseless, baseless lies and conspiracy theories, it’s dangerous, and it is false,” she said.
In a statement on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the comments “disgusting,” “vile,” “racist” and “beneath the dignity of the United States House of Representatives.”
“He must be held accountable for dishonorable conduct that is unbecoming of a Member of Congress,” he added. “Clay Higgins is an election-denying, conspiracy-peddling racial arsonist who is a disgrace to the People’s House.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.