For the first time in history, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) selected a woman as Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for the San Juan office to lead its operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Homeland Security Investigations recently announced in a press release.
With a career spanning more than 20 years in law enforcement and following multiple field and headquarters positions, Rebecca González-Ramos has just been selected as the Special Agent in Charge to lead the HSI San Juan office. González-Ramos represents Puerto Rico at the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service level, and she also represents a minority of women appointed to the position.
“My priorities as the Special Agent in Charge are to secure our borders from money laundering, drug smuggling and weapon smuggling activities; and to identify and judicially process all those who try to exploit our children,” said González-Ramos upon accepting the challenge. “For that purpose, I will assign resources and further strengthen our relationships with our federal, state, and local counterparts to deter Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) from using Puerto Rico as a transshipment point for narcotics. It is my mission to deter violent organizations from using our streets to commit senseless murders putting at risk our community.”
Also, as the first woman to lead HSI in Puerto Rico, SAC González-Ramos is committed to diversity aligned with the agency’s goal of having a 30 percent representation of female agents by the year 2030.
“My role will be focused on the efficiency of the management structure, collaboration between agencies, while maintaining our diverse and inclusive workforce. Through history we have seen how women have made a direct impact for a better future, and that is exactly what I want to do, to create a diverse and prepared force to make a difference in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. I am very honored by this new assignment and hope that my appointment is just the beginning of breaking ground in fields traditionally dominated by men,” added González-Ramos.
Before this assignment, SAC González-Ramos served as HSI San Juan’s Acting Special Agent in Charge since October 2022. Previously, she was selected as the Deputy Special Agent in Charge in San Juan in June 2022. She returned to the island in 2021 as an Assistant Special Agent (ASAC) in Charge, overseeing the Public Safety Group, the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Human Exploitation and Document Fraud Group.
Before returning to HSI San Juan, she was an ASAC in Fort Lauderdale, overseeing all HSI operations in Broward County. Before arriving to HSI Miami, she was the Operations Chief in HSI Headquarters, overseeing the Southwest Border. González-Ramos dedicated most of her career to investigating crimes against children, which she was able to collaborate with the HSI Victim’s Center Approach initiative, the launch of the Internet Safety I-Guardian outreach program and the development of international sextortion investigations at the national level. As the former Group Supervisor of the Child Exploitation Investigations Group in San Juan, González-Ramos was the driving force behind the creation of the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force, established in June 2011. Through the task force, federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies pool their resources to jointly investigate crimes committed against children in Puerto Rico.
SAC González-Ramos is a native of Puerto Rico and graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor’s degree in communications. In 2010, she completed a Juris Doctor from the Interamerican School of Law in Puerto Rico. She currently lives in San Juan with her husband, who is a retired federal agent and a current public servant for the Government of Puerto Rico. She enjoys spending time with her three daughters, son, and granddaughter.
“As a native from Puerto Rico, I have a strong commitment with the progress of my island and a personal engagement with the initiatives that further develop our youth. Part of my agenda is to solidify the ties to all communities, so HSI has an active involvement with our citizens,” stated González-Ramos, whose work agenda will be focused on results that solidify the security of PR and the USVI by expediting investigations and reducing the high crime rate that negatively affects our citizens.
HSI’s mission is to investigate, destabilize, and disrupt terrorist organizations, transnational corporations, and other criminal networks that threaten or seek to exploit United States customs and immigration laws. SAC González-Ramos has supervisory and leadership responsibility for close to 250 law enforcement officers, criminal analysts, and administrative professionals and manages all of HSI’s federal law enforcement investigative programs.
