Ken Taylor, mayor of Huachuca City, Arizona, has declined to attend the next meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association because, according to his emails, he was angered that the invitation was written in English and Spanish.
An Arizona mayor had a strong reaction to a meeting invite he received from the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association, reports CBS News.
The invitation announces the association’s next meeting on August 24; the first half is written in English, and the second half is the translated version in Spanish.
The El-Paso Times is reporting that Huachuca City Mayor Ken Taylor recently sent an email to the group’s executive director, former El Paso Mayor John Cook, telling him, “I will NOT attend a function that is sent to me in Spanish/Mexican. One nation means one language and I am insulted by the division caused by language.”
Cook wrote back to Taylor, explaining that “ours is a bi-national association with mayors from the United States and Mexico that were elected to serve border communities...All of our communications are intended to inform mayors from both sides of our border…”
Taylor then responded, in part, that “it is far past time to remember that we should be ‘America First’.”
He has declined to publicly speak out about the email exchange.