The country's largest Latino advocacy group is calling for Representative Don Young to step down from his position as Alaska's sole representative to the U.S. House today.

In an interview on a Ketchikan radio station earlier this week, Representive Young, when speaking of the migrant workers that labored on his father’s farm, he referred to the workers as “Wetbacks.” The racial slur was picked up by the organization Presente, which immediately called on their members via email to demand that Don Young step down immediately for his indiscretion.

Presente said in the letter to their members, “Racial slurs and dehumanizing terms are worse than disrespectful—they cause harm. We’ve seen this through an alarming rise in hate crimes against Latinos at the height of immigration reform debates and in the policies that emerge from dehumanizing language like Rep. Young’s.”

Saying that they cannot let Young get away with his use of racial slurs. In their letter they said, “When public officials use racial slurs to refer to Latino immigrants without any consequence it sends a dangerous and disturbing message.”

Representive Young released a statement via his website today. The release consisted of one paragraph, in which he said, “I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I’m sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform.”