Honolulu city councilman Rod Tam apologized this afternoon for referring to undocumented laborers from Mexico as "wetbacks" during a May 13 zoning committee meeting, according to a news release.

During a discussion of a bill that would rezone land for the proposed University of Hawai'i West O'ahu campus Tam said that when utilizing laborers, "Basically, they gotta be skilled labor workers. We don't want any wetbacks."

Tam said in a news release that his use of the term "was in reference to the use of undocumented workers by some developers and construction companies here in Honolulu who purposefully decide to skirt our laws in order to gain an economic benefit."

"Not being from the Mainland where use of this term would be considered very derogatory, I have always naively thought it was just a slang term used to describe illegal workers. Having been subsequently informed of its derogatory nature, I wish to apologize to any and all individuals who were offended by my use of the term and offer my sincere promise to refrain from its use in the future."