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U.S. Marshal Sonya K. Chavez
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Sonya K. Chavez was sworn in as New Mexico’s United States
Marshal in April 2018.
Her appointment makes her New Mexico’s first female to serve as U.S.
Marshal. Marshal Chavez is responsible for oversight of one of the
Marshal Service’s largest Districts, and one which makes up the
Southwest Border Region. Shortly after being appointed as U.S. Marshal,
she was asked to serve on the Judiciary’s Committee on Southwest Border
matters, and in September 2019 was appointed to the U.S.
Marshals Advisory Council.
Marshal Chavez spent 22 years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau
of Investigations (FBI). She joined the FBI in April 1996 and was
assigned to the Chicago Division, where she was a member of the
Division's Joint Task Force on Gangs. She developed multiple complex
investigations targeting some of the largest and most violent street
gangs in the country and spent the majority of her Bureau career
targeting the operation of criminal street gangs in the United States.
Marshal Chavez has participated in the arrest of some of the most
violent gang members and drug distributors during her tenure with the
FBI. She has been recognized by the FBI, and by state and local law
enforcement and professional associations for her investigative work. In
December 2006, Marshal Chavez received a transfer to the FBI’s
Albuquerque Division and initiated the FBI’s Safe Streets High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Areas Gang Task Force, adding Albuquerque as an active
participant in the FBI’s national gang initiative. She was the
Division's Undercover Program Coordinator and was a member of the FBI’s
Crisis Negotiation Team in both Chicago and Albuquerque. Marshal Chavez
has been qualified as a subject matter expert by the Federal Court in
the Northern District of Illinois and in the District of New Mexico in
the area of criminal enterprises and their communication and drug
transportation methods.
Prior to joining the FBI, Marshal Chavez worked as a television news
reporter and anchor for CBS and NBC news affiliates. She was the
director of marketing at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce and
was press aide and spokeswoman for then-New Mexico Governor Bruce King
during his last administration.
Marshal Chavez received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and mass
communication from New Mexico State University. She earned a master of
public administration degree from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and
has completed post graduate work in intercultural communication at UNM. |
