Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins (R) responded to an attack in downtown London over the weekend by calling for a mass extrajudicial killing of people suspected of adhering to “radicalized” Islam.
“Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter,” he wrote. “Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”
Notably, Higgins advocated for the killing of anyone even suspected of having links to terrorism, and gave no definition of how that should be determined. He described the fight as a “war” between Christendom and “Islamic horror,” echoing a rallying cry of the far-right.
Such black-and-white rhetoric also dovetails with one of ISIS’ stated goals: To divide the world into two camps, those who believe their ideology and everyone else. In so doing, they aim to eliminate the “grey zone” and convince other Muslims that their faith is unwelcome and incompatible with the West, radicalizing them.
The statement also hedges close to allowing ISIS and other militant groups to represent Islam as a whole, even though the group is deeply unpopular in huge swaths of the Muslim world, and scores of prominent Muslim leaders have condemned them.
Higgins shared his message alongside an image of the terror attack in downtown London on Saturday, which left seven civilians dead and 48 hospitalized. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The full text of his Facebook post is below:
Unknown iFrame situation
A spokesman from Higgins’ office confirmed to Mother Jones that the Facebook post is authentic. In an email to Jezebel, a spokesperson said, “Rep. Higgins is referring to terrorists. He’s advocating for hunting down and killing all of the terrorists. This is an idea all of America & Britain should be united behind.”
Higgins is a first term Congressman, and has been a strong supporter of President Trump and his attempts to ban travelers from several Muslim-majority countries from the United States. Higgins resigned from his previous post as the public information officer in the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s office after being instructed by his boss, the sheriff, to tone down his “disrespectful and demeaning” comments.