McALLEN, Texas (AP) - A south Texas woman has told legislators at a joint hearing on border security that her son and ex-husband, both U.S. citizens, have been missing in a Mexican border city for nearly a year.

Patricia Martinez is a drug counselor from the lower Rio Grande Valley city of Pharr. She said she had kept the May 2009 kidnapping private until now. She says she's telling the story now in the hope of helping her son and assures legislators that it's not only people tied to drug trafficking being harmed by border violence.

Local, state and federal law enforcement representatives are testifying in front of the House committees on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Safety in a joint hearing aimed at evaluating the state's border security.

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