Blas Nuñez-Neto (born 1973/1974)[1] 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.[2][3][4][1][5] 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.[3][4]
Nuñez-Neto was born in Argentina.[2][3] He immigrated to the United States as a child.[4] 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.[2]
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.[2] Later that year, he took a position in the Department of Homeland Security.[2] 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.[2]
In 2024, Nuñez-Neto was promoted to a position in the White House.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Beitsch, Rebecca (2023-08-14). "Meet the DHS official seeking a middle ground on the border". The Hill.
- ^ a b c d e f g Miroff, Nick (2024-09-01). "The quiet technocrat who steered Biden's effort to tighten the border". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
- ^ a b c "Scoop: Biden beefs up border team as pressure builds". Axios. 2024.
- ^ a b c 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.