Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is defending his use of a Japanese greeting when responding to a question from a congresswoman of Japanese descent. The congresswoman he addressed, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Democrat-Hawaii, on Saturday called his comments “racial stereotyping.

The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that Zinke was asked about his use of the word “konnichiwa” while touring the U.S-Mexico border in Arizona on Saturday.

Zinke’s remark drew immediate backlash on social media. On Saturday, he doubled down on his comments.

“How could ever saying ‘Good morning’ be bad?” Zinke told reporters following a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hanabusa tweeted Saturday night she wanted to focus on how the “administration ignored one of the most racially motivated periods in American history by defunding the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant program.

Zinke replied with “konnichiwa” — a Japanese greeting typically spoken in the afternoon. The Democratic congresswoman corrected him and used the Japanese phrase for good morning.

Hanabusa denounced Zinke’s response in a series of tweets Saturday.

“When @SecretaryZinke chose to address me in Japanese (when no one else was greeted in their ancestral language), I understood this is precisely why Japanese Americans were treated as they were more than 75 years ago,” she wrote. “It is racial stereotyping

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said in a statement, “Rather than greet her like he would any other Member of Congress, he responded to her as if she did not speak any English. Whether intentional or not, his comments invoke the offensive stereotype that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners regardless of how long their families have lived in the United States.”