Blas Nuñez-Neto (born 1973/1974) is an American government official who works in the White House of the Joe Biden administration. He has been described as a key architect of the Biden administration's immigration policy. He played a central role in Senate negotiations over a bipartisan border deal that was ultimately scuttled when former president Donald Trump pressured Republicans to abandon it.
Nuñez-Neto was born in Argentina. He immigrated to the United States as a child. After graduate school, he worked at the Congressional Research Service, as an aide on border security to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), and briefly as an adviser in Customs and Border Protection in the Barack Obama administration.
He worked on border security issues at the RAND Corporation until 2021 when he became chief operating officer for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the Joe Biden administration. Later that year, he took a position in the Department of Homeland Security. Nuñez-Neto has a close partnership with Roberto Velasco Álvarez, the top official at Mexico's Foreign Ministry for North American affairs, who substantially curtailed illegal border crossings into the United States.
In 2024, Nuñez-Neto was promoted to a position in the White House.
References
- ^ Beitsch, Rebecca (2023-08-14). "Meet the DHS official seeking a middle ground on the border". The Hill.
- ^ Miroff, Nick (2024-09-01). "The quiet technocrat who steered Biden's effort to tighten the border". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
- ^ "Scoop: Biden beefs up border team as pressure builds". Axios. 2024.
- ^ Rafael Bernal, Rebecca Beitsch (2024-05-03). "White House shakes up its immigration team". The Hill.
- Beitsch, Rebecca (2023-12-13). "The Hill's Changemakers: Blas Nuñez-Neto, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security". The Hill.