Republican Rep. Goes Mask-Off With Racist, Vile Threat to Haitians
Republican Representative Clay Higgins made a racist attack on Haitians Wednesday, referencing several racist tropes and the debunked pet-eating conspiracy from Ohio. In his post on X (formerly Twitter), the Louisiana congressman said, “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.”Higgins was apparently upset that a Haitian American nonprofit organization took advantage of an Ohio law allowing citizens to file affidavits for criminal offenses, and filed charges against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance for spreading the debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, captured and ate pets, ducks, and geese. Higgins’s post is not only bigoted but also echoes the same sentiments as Trump, Vance, and many other right-wing figures who have called for Haitians legally in the United States to be deported. Many of these figures, led by the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees, have continued attacking Haitians despite the uptick in violent threats against schools, hospitals, and government buildings in Springfield. Recently, Trump has expanded his attacks against Haitian immigrants from Springfield to another small town, Charleroi, Pennsylvania. As was the case in Ohio, Charleroi’s town officials have pushed back, with Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning remarking, “There’s what the former president is saying, and then there’s easily observable reality.”Manning told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that the Haitian community has helped fill jobs in the small Pennsylvania town and even showed solidarity with workers at a factory that was closing. But details like that are of little concern to people like Higgins, Trump, and Vance, who refuse to let the facts get in the way of a racist narrative they think will help them politically.
Republican Representative Clay Higgins made a racist attack on Haitians Wednesday, referencing several racist tropes and the debunked pet-eating conspiracy from Ohio.
In his post on X (formerly Twitter), the Louisiana congressman said, “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.”
Higgins was apparently upset that a Haitian American nonprofit organization took advantage of an Ohio law allowing citizens to file affidavits for criminal offenses, and filed charges against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance for spreading the debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, captured and ate pets, ducks, and geese.
Higgins’s post is not only bigoted but also echoes the same sentiments as Trump, Vance, and many other right-wing figures who have called for Haitians legally in the United States to be deported. Many of these figures, led by the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees, have continued attacking Haitians despite the uptick in violent threats against schools, hospitals, and government buildings in Springfield.
Recently, Trump has expanded his attacks against Haitian immigrants from Springfield to another small town, Charleroi, Pennsylvania. As was the case in Ohio, Charleroi’s town officials have pushed back, with Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning remarking, “There’s what the former president is saying, and then there’s easily observable reality.”
Manning told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that the Haitian community has helped fill jobs in the small Pennsylvania town and even showed solidarity with workers at a factory that was closing. But details like that are of little concern to people like Higgins, Trump, and Vance, who refuse to let the facts get in the way of a racist narrative they think will help them politically.
