Update: Congressman Higgins Has reportedly deleted his tweet.
GOP Rep. Clay Higgins has now deleted this tweet after he was confronted by CBC Chair Steven Horsford on the House floor, and asked to take it down, multiple sources tell me & @heatherscope >> pic.twitter.com/10c8e5SZEP
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) September 25, 2024
Earlier this month, baseless rumors began circulating online that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating dogs and cats. Days later, Donald Trump infamously declared in the presidential debate, “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.”
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No evidence has emerged for this claim, with J.D. Vance seeming to admit in a televised interview that they’re not true, but he might have to “create stories” to the contrary.
That campaign, in the weeks since, has led to a series of threats against the Haitian community in Ohio.
Now, another Republican elected official has restated the much-debunked claims- and a lot more.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), a conservative Republican in Congress, responded Wednesday to the news that a group of Haitian immigrants had filed “citizen criminal charges” against Trump and Vance, with a deranged rant using his official government X account. In it, Higgins declared, “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 went on to call them “thugs.”
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.
All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass… pic.twitter.com/THFsb8NWvM— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) September 25, 2024
On top of the racial stereotypes, and the debunked pet-eating claims, and calling for an immigrant group to “get out of the country,” Higgins spelled “voodoo” incorrectly, calling it “vudu,” which was a digital streaming service for renting movies (it has since been renamed Fandango at Home.)
The “citizen criminal charges” were filed by a group called the The Haitian Bridge Alliance, and they accuse the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates of “disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity,” while calling for probable cause for warrants to be issued for their arrests.
The charges are not seen as likely to lead to any criminal consequences for Trump and Vance.
Will charges over their pet-eating lies stop Donald Trump and JD Vance from spreading them? Survey says: not likely.
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) September 25, 2024
Per NBC News, “Ohio law allows private citizens to file affidavits charging people with crimes. However, the law requires hearings to take place before the affidavits can move forward. As of Tuesday afternoon, none had been scheduled.”
This summer, a Pennsylvania woman filed a “private criminal complaint,” baselessly accusing Gov. Josh Shapiro of involvement in the assassination attempt against Trump.
Photo courtesy of YouTube screenshot (Congressman Clay Higgins).
