Hugo Balta, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, released a statement Thursday, declaring that it was rescinding the invitation for Fox News to cosponsor the organization’s presence at the upcoming Excellence In Journalism conference in San Antonio, TX — and returning Fox’s check for $16,666 as part of the deal.

The reason: continued commentary on Fox News that presents immigration at the U.S. southern border as an “invasion” of the country by “illegal aliens,” even in the weeks after the August 3 mass shooting by a white nationalist in El Paso, TX. Fox News has continued to push this language on its broadcasts, which the NAHJ says it has attempted to discuss with Fox management for years — and apparently alluded to some kind of weak response by the network: “The latest ‘regret’ by Fox News is one of many where the immigrant community and by association, all Hispanics and Latinos, have been demonized by voices with high visibility due to there being little to no consequences by management.”

The statement also presents the current crisis in stark terms: “Soon after the mass shooting in El Paso, like so many families and parents, I had a conversation with my wife and children about the tragedy. My 16-year old daughter and 13-year old son asked me if we should stop speaking Spanish in public for fear of being a target. I lied to them…I lied when I said they shouldn’t be afraid and defiantly told them we are not going to stop conversing with one another in Spanish in public. I lied. I am afraid.”

The statement singles out Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes, who just last week compared the influx of undocumented immigrants into the United States to “the Nazis invading France and Western Europe.”