GOP lawmaker deletes racist social media post after swift backlash

Rep. Clay Higgins deleted a social media post Wednesday with racist tropes about Haitians after swift backlash from his congressional colleagues, including a call to censure him on the House floor.

Higgins (R-La.) wrote a post on the platform X — using his official congressional account — that called Haitians "wild" and added: "Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangster ... 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 our country before January 20th."

He included a screenshot of a news story about a Haitian group filing charges against former President Donald Trump and Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance in response to false claims the Republican nominees had spread about migrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Higgins took down the post within a couple of hours, after several lawmakers confronted him on the House floor Wednesday and said it was inappropriate. That group included Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) one of a handful of Black Republicans in Congress.

“I told him my thoughts. I thought it was not a good statement. I thought he should take it down, and we just talked it through, and he went ahead and did that, and that’s to his credit," Donalds said.

Higgins' office did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was also part of the group who spoke with Higgins. Shortly after, he took to the House floor surrounded by members of his bloc to denounce Higgins' post, call for the House Ethics Committee to look into the matter and demand that Higgins be formally reprimanded on the House floor.

"These words on an official post do not reflect credibly on the House. in fact, they are inciting hate. They are inciting fear. And because of that it is time for this body to stand with one voice and to ensure that there's accountability," he said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed Higgins' post as "disgusting and dangerous."

Top Republicans said Higgins did the proper thing by deleting the post and that lawmakers needed to move on.

"He prayed about it, and he regretted it, and he pulled the post down. That's what you want the gentleman to do. I'm sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But you know, we move forward," said Speaker Mike Johnson.

Higgins, a conservative Republican, has previously courted controversy on social media, and Facebook had once removed a post for "incitement" after he called for using force against armed protesters.

Anthony Adragna, Katherine Tully-McManus and Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.