Higgins walks back comments calling Haitians 'thugs'

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) on Thursday morning walked back his comments calling Haitians "thugs" after backlash from both sides of the aisle.

“You never want to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings, and that post was intended for Haitian gangs, you understand?" Higgins told reporters. “Not for, I mean, Haiti as a country, not at all. And the unintended impact that was expressed very sincerely from one of my colleagues very graciously, that touched me as a gentleman.”

On Wednesday, Higgins posted on X that “Haitians are wild” and that Haiti is the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere.” He also promoted a false claim about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating pets. 

“All these thugs better get their mind right and their a– out of our country before January 20th,” the post concluded. 

He deleted the post several hours later.

The Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday lambasted Higgins for his remarks, calling for him to be censured. Some House Republicans also criticized the comments. 

Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.), said he was “shocked and disappointed” by Higgins’s comments, adding that the rhetoric reduced “Haitian immigrants to offensive tropes.”

“Immigrants deserve dignity, humanity, and respect, not threats,” Duarte posted on X. “I hope Mr. Higgins recognizes that his words were completely unacceptable and apologizes for what he said.”

Higgins deleted the social media post on Wednesday following a confrontation from members of the CBC, including Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chair of the caucus, but doubled down on the comments shortly after in a statement to CNN. 

“It’s all true. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to,” Higgins sent to Anderson Cooper. “I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want. It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.”

Cooper asked Horsford on Wednesday if his motion to censure was "off the table" until after the next election, but Horsford said no. 

"It's not about the next election," Horsford said. "It's about the fact that this type of divisive, racially charged rhetoric needs to stop right now."

It was not immediately clear if Higgins’s comments on Thursday would end the CBC's calls for censure.