A New York man is facing hate crime charges after police said he made threats and anti-Asian American remarks � to an undercover officer assigned to a hate crimes task force.

Juvian Rodriguez, 35, was arrested Friday afternoon after the alleged confrontation near Penn Station.

A message was sent Saturday to the lawyer who represented Rodriguez at a court appearance Friday. No home phone number for Rodriguez could be found.

According to news accounts, when reporters outside a police station asked Rodriguez for comment, he replied only, �Your mother!�

Police say Rodriguez intentionally engaged with the undercover officer, told him to �go back to China� before he ended up in a �graveyard,� and threatened to slap and stab him in the face.

He is facing misdemeanor charges that include menacing and harassment as hate crimes, and aggravated harassment related to a person�s race, ancestry or certain other characteristics, court records show.

The arrest comes amid a national spike in reports of anti-Asian American hate crimes. The New York Police Department recently announced it was increasing patrols and adding undercover officers in areas with significant Asian American populations.

�The next person you target, whether it�s through speech, menacing activity or anything else, walking along a sidewalk or on a train platform, may be a plainclothes New York City police officer. So think twice,� Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the time.

(AP)