Ernst Says Mexico Needs To Step Up And Secure Release Of Kidnapped Iowa Woman

Washington, DC — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she’s 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.

Chris Leguisano went missing over a month ago. She was in Mexico to deliver a truck full of belongings to a brother-in-law and was last seen in Reynosa, Mexico — less than a hour’s drive from the U-S southern border. Ernst says this is the second high-profile assault of American citizens in that part of Mexico in the past two years.

State Department officials have briefed the staff in Senator Chuck Grassley’s office and Ernst’s staff on outreach to Mexican authorities and how US law enforcement are involved in the case. In July, the State Department issued a warning advising Americans not to travel to or through the state in northern Mexico that sits along the Gulf of Mexico.

Leguisano’s son told WOI-TV he’s gotten text messages demanding a ransom.

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