An Arizona mayor says he will not attend a meeting of U.S. and Mexican border city mayors because the invitation was written in both English and Spanish.
The meeting hosted by the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association will be held Aug. 24 in Laredo Texas.
The El Paso Times reported that Huachuca City Mayor Ken Taylor said in an email Wednesday to former El Paso Mayor John Cook, executive director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association, that he won’t “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,” Taylor said.
Taylor told NBC Latino in an email that he only responds to "conservative news sources" and declined to comment on the email responses.
According to the El Paso Times, Cook responded to Taylor’s email by saying: "I will certainly remove you from our email list. 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 about our association.”
The two continued to send emails back and forth, even after Cook removed Taylor from the border city mayors’ list. Cook told the El Paso Times he was disappointed by Taylor’s response.
Huachuca City is a town of about 1,900 residents, of which nearly 20 percent are Latino. It is located in southeast Arizona, about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.