During a video tour of mobile housing modules manufactured in Lafayette released on Twitter last week, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, three times mentioned that the units could and should be transported to the Southern border for use by agents to keep people from sneaking into the country illegally.
Only once did he mention that the housing units could also be used for disasters.
Since elected in 2016, Higgins’ district has been hit with a dozen tropical storms and hurricanes. His campaign trail rhetoric, however, has focused more on people entering America without proper documents.
Louisiana is home to only an estimated 70,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the American Immigration Council. If every one of them was gathered in the 102,000-seat Tiger Stadium, there would be far shorter waits to use the restroom than on Saturday when LSU played the University of Tennessee. Also consider that the blue states of California and New York each have more immigrants than Louisiana has residents.
Immigration is playing a starring role in the Nov. 8 midterm congressional elections. “Crisis at the border” has become the Republican answer to the Democratic “no access to abortion” narrative.
An Oct. 5 Reuters/Ipsos survey found that the GOP got twice the favorable numbers as Democrats on the immigration issue. Among suburban women, a critical voting sector, Republicans have a 7 percentage-point advantage over Democrats on how to manage immigration. Arrests for immigrants illegally trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico have climbed to record highs since Democratic President Joe Biden took office 18 months ago.
As a member of the Homeland Security subcommittee overseeing border security, Higgins is particularly well placed to make those arguments. And he wants to be chair of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, a role that would make him the public face for Republican stances on the issue.
First, however, Higgins has to win reelection on Nov. 8. The Republicans need to take the majority of the U.S. House seats. Then Higgins has to win a party vote later in November among his fellow Republican representatives. Politico has identified U.S. Reps Dan Crenshaw, of Texas and a former Navy Seal, and Mark Green, of Tennessee and a former U.S. Army Ranger, along with Higgins, who was in the Military Police Corps of the Louisiana National Guard, as contenders for the Homeland Security chair should the Republicans prevail in the congressional midterms.
Ironically, if Higgins were a Democrat, that chairmanship would be all but assured. Each party has its own rules for electing leadership, and the Democratic process heavily favors seniority. Not so much on the Republican side, where committee chair races are far more unrestricted. Though the ranking Republican on the committee, Higgins faces two formidable opponents and a couple of other obstacles.
Should he be forced into a Dec. 10 runoff, Higgins would have to stay home campaigning instead of in D.C. securing votes among his Republican colleagues for his committee chair bid. Higgins, alone among Louisiana’s six congressional incumbents, faces a well-funded opponent.
And then there’s leadership’s uncomfortable relations with the House Freedom Caucus, which was formed in January 2015 to forward very conservative Republican positions. Higgins is a Freedom Caucus member. While GOP leaders focus on practical politics, such as increasing Republican say over what gets funded, the Caucus is more unbendable on its doctrines. Consequently, House leadership doesn’t always aggressively support Freedom Caucus members.
Higgins did not return repeated calls over the past two weeks to discuss his candidacy.
But during a Sept. 21 interview on C-SPAN, Higgins promised investigations into the Biden administration should he get the gavel of the Homeland…