Puerto Rico community leaders to form second nationwide ICE-sponsored Citizens Academy

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A group of 13 community leaders representing government and the bank, security and media industries formed the second cohort of U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-sponsored Citizens Academy Thursday. The participants join a group of 10 citizens who graduated last year and became the first graduates of an HSI Academy in the nation.

The HSI San Juan Citizens Academy was developed by HSI San Juan special agents to provide members of the general public with an inside look at HSI and how the agency enforces immigration and customs laws.

The Academy provides selected participants with a unique opportunity to learn about the mission of HSI, a premier federal law enforcement agency, while bolstering a relationship that will enhance agency and community relations. Through this academy HSI will identify the agency with the community it serves and protects while allowing the community to interact and learn from actual special agents. This will brand the agency with the community while serving as a force multiplier by creating awareness of HSI’s mission and developing an information network.

The 13 selected participants will undergo a 10-week academy, meeting once a week for two hours from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The selectees will be given a unique opportunity to experience and learn about the agency through classroom and field training exercises.

The curriculum provides for hands-on and interactive activities to keep participants engaged and make the experience memorable. They will have the opportunity to visit the HSI San Juan Computer Forensics Laboratory, the only laboratory of its kind in the Caribbean, and learn how HSI special agents retrieve information and evidence from electronic/digital devices and conduct child exploitation investigations. Participants will also spend time at a firing range, honing their marksmanship skills, and will learn how HSI special agents conduct a variety of investigations ranging from drug trafficking to human smuggling and trafficking to financial crimes and fraud cases. All that while hitting the books learning firsthand about HSI from some of the agency's special agents and leaders.

The selectees were nominated by HSI San Juan employees and the final selection was made by HSI San Juan Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez.

“I am extremely excited to welcome this group of 13 men and women to the ranks of HSI San Juan as members of the only HSI Citizens Academy in the nation,” said Melendez. “It is indeed a pleasure to know 13 community leaders with great responsibilities accepted the challenge and our invitation to participate in this second cohort of the HSI San Juan Citizens Academy. This is a historic event as today these citizens have taken the first step to become part of our legacy, to become the best emissaries of our agency’s values of honor, service and integrity.” 

The following community leaders compose the second cohort of HSI San Juan Citizens Academy:

• Marisol Rivera, Compliance Officer, Banco Cooperativo de Puerto Rico
• Magda Rodriguez, Human Resources Consultant
• Brenda Rosado, Puerto Rico Department of Justice
• Edith Benoit, Compliance Officer, Scotiabank
• Mariana Bauza, Assistant U.S. Attorney
• Jose Cruz, Senior Asset Protection, First Bank
• Jose Rivero, Doral Bank Security
• Jose Rodriguez, Commissioner for Security, Puerto Rico Department of Education
• Angel Rijos, AT&T Security
• Jorge Negron, Telemundo
• Angel Hernandez, Sea Star Investigations
• Carlos Cardona, Assistant U.S. Attorney
• Denise Longo, Assistant U.S. Attorney