Ernst calls on Mexico to take action and release kidnapped Iowan

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst says she is pressing Mexican authorities to secure the safe return of a 51-year-old Des Moines woman who was kidnapped in northern Mexico a month ago.

“Seriously, this is Mexico. This is a partner of the United States, whether it’s trade or other types of economic endeavors. This is our neighbor to the south,” Ernst said during a stop at the Clay County Fair in Spencer. “They’ve got to step up.”

Chris Leguisano disappeared more than a month ago. She was in Mexico delivering a truckload of supplies to a brother-in-law and was last seen in Reynosa, Mexico — less than an hour’s drive from the U.S. southern border. Ernst said this is the second high-profile attack on U.S. citizens in that part of Mexico in the past two years. “This is a woman who has been kidnapped,” Ernst said. “We cannot tolerate this.”

State Department officials have briefed staff in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office and Ernst’s staff on the outreach to Mexican authorities and how U.S. law enforcement is involved. In July, the State Department issued an alert advising Americans not to travel to or through the state Leguisana visited, which is in northern Mexico and on the Gulf of Mexico.

“It just underscores the fact that there are open borders and there are cartels that are carrying out dangerous practices of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and human trafficking,” Ernst said.

Leguisano’s son told WOI TV that he received text messages demanding ransom.

(By George Bower, KICD, Spencer)