Democrats try to censure Republican Clay Higgins for slandering Haitians in social media post

House Democrats attempted Wednesday to quickly censure a Republican congressman who slandered Haitian immigrants in a post he made on social media, but GOP leadership stamped out the effort.

Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana described Haitians in racist terms Wednesday afternoon, calling them “wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Higgins, a far-right lawmaker who has voiced conspiracy theories, deleted the post after Democrats confronted him on the House floor.

The Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, and beyond has faced an onslaught of racist abuse after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate Senator JD Vance falsely claimed that Haitians were eating pets.

Jamaican-American Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke, who is co-chair of the US House of Representatives' Haiti Caucus, has denounced Higgins for his remarks.

“The recent tweet from the official account of Representative Clay Higgins is vile and reprehensible. I cannot believe the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee Chair on Border Security and Enforcement would fathom having such ill and racist words for Haitian migrants.

His remarks are cruel, dehumanising, and have been proven time and again as untrue,” said Representative Yvette D Clarke, Haiti Caucus Co-chair.

Congresswoman Clarke said “Just when you think these MAGA extremists' xenophobic ideologies can't get any worse, they continue to spread dangerous falsehoods and threats – endangering the lives of people who are fleeing political persecution and a nation battered from the impacts of climate change. It is simply appalling.”

The Congressman has also faced backlash from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies who said that Higgins must be held accountable for “dishonourable conduct that is unbecoming of a member of congress.”

Jefferies said that Higgins is an election-denying, conspiracy peddling racial arsonist who is a “disgrace to the people's house”.

Higgins' post came after a Haitian-American lobby group filed charges against republican presidential candidate, former president Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance for spreading the rumour that Haitians were eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump and Vance has doubled down on this misinformation although it has been proven wrong and both the mayor of Springfield and the Republican Governor of Ohio have said there is no truth to the rumour and called on both politicians to stop spreading the disinformation.

- Lester Hinds, with contributions from AP

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