News Releases and Statements

The goal of the program is for participants to become familiar with how and why ICE carries out its mission.

Leadership Tampa Bay promotes the prosperity and vitality of the Tampa Bay region, enlightening local leaders to the importance of the area in the state of Florida. The group engages members with businesses and community leaders to enhance knowledge of regional assets and issues.

With the objective of bolstering relationships with key community partners, HSI San Juan recruited participants from diverse employment areas including media, congressional affairs, non-government agencies, and the financial industry to attend the academy. HSI employees nominated members of the community who they felt would be suitable candidates.

The St. Paul office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) graduated its inaugural class of Citizens Academy students this fall, including 10 metro-area community leaders from various backgrounds.

During the eight-week course, HSI Tampa agents introduced participants to national security, financial, narcotics, cyber, global trade, human smuggling/trafficking, and child exploitation investigations.

With the objective of bolstering relationships with key community partners, HSI San Juan recruited participants from diverse employment areas including media, congressional affairs, non-government agencies and the financial industry to attend the academy. HSI employees nominated members of the community who they felt would be suitable candidates.

The 19 community leaders selected to attend the academy underwent an eight-week course where they experienced a unique opportunity to learn about the agency in an active environment that included classroom instruction as well as practical exercises.