Monday, July 7, 2008- For the very first time since the kidnapping of one of his relatives, El Paso Congressman Silvestre Reyes speaks on camera about the incident.

Monday, Newschannel 9 caught up with the Congressman at UTEP where he was speaking to a group of high school students.  In the brief interview, Congressman Reyes was asked about the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping of Erika Posselt, a distant relative of the Congressman.  Posselt was kidnapped June 29, from an Accriparts Store in Juarez which Posselt owns. 

Newschannel 9 asked Congressman Reyes how he felt when he received word that a relative had been kidnapped.

"I think anyone who has family knows how anyone would feel when a member of your family is involved.  But really we handled this the way we would have handled any other case."  says Reyes.

Throughout the interview the Congressman insisted that despite the involvement of ICE agents, detailed in a leaked memo, no special treatment was given to Posselt because she is a relative of Reyes.  The memo, which showed up on the blogsite Narcosphere.com explains that Reyes' office contacted ICE officials when they received word that Posselt had been taken.

Days later, Posselt was released after a family member in Mexico paid a ransom of $32,000 dollars.

"Obviously we are happy that this case turned out the way it did but if another case happened today, it will be referred the same way that one was handled and so many others were handled before that."  says Reyes.