Public Safety

Smugglers In Tecate Make Off With $2,500

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter

Published May 24, 2010 at 12:47 PM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

Smugglers In Tecate Make Off With $2,500

For the second time in less than a week, a migrant has been held for ransom in Tecate. Police there report a woman who intended to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally was held captive while her smugglers extorted her husband.

For the second time in less than a week, a migrant has been held for ransom in Tecate. Police there report a woman who intended to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally was held captive while her smugglers extorted her family.

A spokesman for the Tecate police says a 27-year-old Oaxacan woman hired a smuggler in Tijuana to lead her across the border so she could join her husband.

Police say the woman set out with the man and another, who she thought was a migrant.

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It turned out he was the smuggler's accomplice. The pair held the woman for a day-and-a-half, while they called her husband and told him to deposit $2,500 at Western Union, which he did. The smugglers lied and said they'd crossed the border, though they were still in Mexico.

Last week, Mexican law enforcement freed 17 migrants and arrested three men who they said had kidnapped more than 100 migrants since 2008.

Crossing the border illegally in Tecate has become increasingly more dangerous during the last couple of years, as armed groups are targeting migrants. Law enforcement authorities suspect smugglers may be tied to organized crime

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Public Safety Immigration Tijuana

Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

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