U.S. Rep. Jason Smith apologizes for 'go back to Puerto Rico' remark

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith apologized to a Democratic colleague of Mexican descent hours after he shouted “go back to Puerto Rico” on the House floor. On Friday, the 8th District Congressman told the Southeast Missourian he was referring to Democrats who had traveled last week to Puerto Rico.

Smith’s comment came Thursday afternoon as GOP lawmakers were complaining about Democrats approving a continuing resolution to fund the government on a voice vote. Republicans demanded a roll-call vote, which will now be held next week.

Tony Cárdenas

Rep. Tony Cárdenas, D-California, told The Hill newspaper he thought the remark was directed at him.

Cárdenas told The Hill newspaper it sounded like the equivalent of “go back to where you came from.”

“I was shocked, because I often heard those kinds of comments when I was a kid growing up in Pacoima, California, where I was born and raised,” he wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

Cárdenas told reporters with Washington, D.C., media outlets he had been waiting to speak when he heard the remark.

But Smith said Friday he was not referring to Cárdenas individually, but to several Democrats who spent last weekend in Puerto Rico while the partial federal government shutdown continued.

“It is really sad that something like this could be blown out of proportion so much,” the Republican lawmaker from Salem, Missouri, told the Southeast Missourian in a phone interview from Washington.

He said his comment was “not racially motivated.”

Smith said his statement was directed at “the 30 plus Democrats and 100 plus lobbyists that flew on a chartered flight to Puerto Rico” the previous weekend.

The Washington Post reported the trip included briefings on the continued impact from Hurricane Maria as well as a charity performance of the “Hamilton” musical and “down time on the beach.”

Smith called the trip a “junket.”

Cárdenas, the youngest son of immigrant parents from Mexico, chairs the fundraising arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which organized the visit to Puerto Rico.

Smith said he was not aware of Cárdenas’ role in putting together the trip until after he made his remark.

“I was talking about the whole delegation that went to Puerto Rico. It was not about any one individual,” he said.

Cárdenas told The Hill publication that after hearing the shouted remark, he asked his GOP colleagues who made the remark, but no one came forward.

But Smith said he never heard Cárdenas’ question.

“If I would have, I would have talked to him,” the GOP congressman said.

The remarks, Cárdenas told The Hill, show a lack of understanding about the minority experience in the United States, regardless of how they were meant.

Smith said there were almost 100 Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House floor after Democrats recessed the session while GOP members still had three motions on the floor.

“After that, there were a lot of members who were shouting things,” Smith recalled, adding the comments came from both sides of the aisle.

Smith said he left to attend a committee meeting.

Later, after learning Cárdenas had taken offense to the remark, Smith said he phoned the Democratic lawmaker and apologized.

“Our conversation went really well,” Smith said. “I told him, ‘We don’t know each other very well. I would like to get to know you better.’”

Smith said, “I told him I would like to take him out to lunch sometime.”

Cárdenas told reporters he accepted Smith’s apology.

Cárdenas shared a saying he said his parents taught him, The Washington Post reported.

“De todo lo malo, siempre sale algo bueno,” which in English translates as “From everything bad, something good will always come of it.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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