Ricky J. Patel was designated as the United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on January 20, 2026 by the United States Attorney General. As the designated United States Marshal, Mr. Patel is responsible for the principal oversight of all investigative, protective, and administrative matters for the district which encompasses Manhattan, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, and Sullivan counties with a populace of over 3 million people. Mr. Patel is a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) for the United States Government and prior to this designation, Mr. Patel served as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Field Office. As HSI’s largest field office in this executive level position, Mr. Patel had oversight of the full spectrum of investigative activities for over 1,000 personnel, comprised of special agents, intelligence analysts, task force officers, administrative personnel, and contractors throughout New York City, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley region of New York. Mr. Patel previously served as the SAC for HSI New Jersey with oversight of investigative activities for over 260 personnel located in Newark, Trenton, Cherry Hill, Atlantic City, as well as among the largest seaports and airports in the United States, to include the Port of Newark, the Port of Camden, and Newark Liberty International Airport.
As the SAC for HSI New York and HSI New Jersey, Mr. Patel managed all of HSI's complex federal law enforcement investigative actions related to national security and smuggling violations, including counter-proliferation, financial crime, commercial fraud, human trafficking, human smuggling, narcotics smuggling, transnational gangs, cyber-crime, child exploitation, and document and benefit fraud investigations. Mr. Patel also served in HSI’s Domestic Operations as the Acting Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) with oversight of the programmatic management for HSI’s 237 domestic field offices throughout the country. Mr. Patel also served as the Acting DAD for the International Operations Division of HSI, the principal investigative component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with over 90 offices in more than 50 countries.
Mr. Patel began his federal law enforcement career with HSI Newark as a Special Agent where he served both as a case agent and undercover operative, in multiple investigative disciplines to include document and benefit fraud, money laundering, weapons trafficking, counter-proliferation, transnational gang activity, narcotics smuggling/trafficking and human smuggling/trafficking investigations. Mr. Patel possesses a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management with a focus in police studies from Seton Hall University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Justice Studies from Montclair State University.