Republican congressman Clay Higgins responded to Saturday’s terror attack in London with a Facebook post calling for the death of anyone even suspected of radical Islamic terrorism.
In a statement to NBC News on Monday, Higgins, of Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District, did not repeat the assertion or explicitly reference the post — but he said that "terrorists certainly take advantage of the politically correct madness that consumes the West."
"This is about prioritizing national security and protecting American lives," he said. "Every measure must be taken to eliminate radical Islamic terrorism and the threat it poses to the free world."
In the Facebook post, Higgins wrote that “the free world” and "all of Christendom" is at war with “Islamic horror."
"Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter," he wrote. "Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all."
Higgins, a former captain with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office, used similarly inflammatory language as a law enforcement officer.
In a video last year, he described several wanted members of a street gang as “animals” and “heathens” and said: “You will be hunted, you will be trapped, and if you raise a weapon to a man like me, we'll return fire with superior fire."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana criticized the Feb. 17 video, and roughly two weeks later Higgins resigned.
On Monday, the ACLU again took aim at Higgins, saying in a post on Twitter that his “sentiments fundamentally clash with the core principles upon which this country was founded.”