PROVO — A powerful Democratic congressman forced by the U.S. government to live in a World War II Japanese internment camp in Colorado while he was a boy attacked a Republican congressional nominee from Utah on Friday for suggesting that undocumented immigrants should be detained in tent cities.

House Senior Whip and California Rep. Mike Honda scolded Jason Chaffetz, the Republican nominee for Utah's 3rd Congressional District seat, in a strongly worded press release.

"Jason Chaffetz's comments are more than just offensive and embarrassing to all Americans," Honda said, "they demonstrate a blatant disregard of the need to be vigilant in remembering the lessons learned from a disgraceful chapter in U.S. history."

Chaffetz bristled at Honda's broadside and demanded an apology from the congressman, saying it was Honda who introduced race into a debate in which Chaffetz believes he has adopted a bipartisan approach supported by the Democratic governors of New Mexico and Arizona.

Honda, 67, called the detainment of Japanese-Americans during World War II one of the most shameful periods in American history and pointed out that 9,000 detainees were held in Utah, in the Topaz War Relocation Camps near Delta.

"Today," he said, "66 years after the executive order was signed to intern over 100,000 Japanese-Americans, Utah congressional candidate Jason Chaffetz's call to create 'tent cities' to detain immigrants conjures images and memories that many Americans, including myself, find painful."

Americans should know that "immigrant" is not a dirty word, Honda added, saying "Mr. Chaffetz's comments serve only to fuel resentment towards targeted ethnic groups. ... It appears he has intentionally used intolerance to promote his own political agenda, rather than engage in a real debate about immigration."

Chaffetz called Honda's attack an outgrowth of what he said is misinformation spread by Bennion Spencer, the Democrat running against Chaffetz this fall.

Spencer doesn't know Honda and hasn't spoken with him, but he said the immigration debate that has dominated Utah's 3rd District elections for five years is a national story after The Associated Press recently picked up a local story about Chaffetz and Spencer.

"I've spent the last two weeks defending Utah on radio stations and to newspapers in California, Arizona and Colorado," Spencer said. "They want to know where the outrage is. I say, trust me, this does not reflect the view of the majority of Utahns."

He claimed Chaffetz's proposal would lead to racial profiling.