Blas Nuñez-Neto

Blas Nuñez-Neto is a leading expert on homeland security, counter-terrorism, immigration, and trade policy with extensive management experience and a broad range of contacts in the executive branch, Capitol Hill, foreign governments, and the private sector. In a number of key roles inside and outside the government, he has tackled some of the most challenging policy issues facing the country, negotiating landmark international agreements and brokering bipartisan legislation.

He most recently served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Migration and Southwest Border Coordination at the National Security Council, where he coordinated the whole of government response to migration and border management and helped formulate national policies designed to address migratory flows.

Prior to this appointment, Blas served as Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy and Acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In these roles, he led the response to the unprecedented surge in global migration that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and headed diplomatic engagements with countries in the Western Hemisphere to coordinate migratory policy and negotiate international agreements. He also held key leadership positions at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the largest federal law enforcement agency, serving as the Chief Operating Officer and as a Senior Advisor to the Commissioner.

Blas previously served as Associate Director and Senior Policy Researcher for the RAND Corporation’s Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center. Additionally he provided expert counsel for Members of Congress as a Senior Professional Staff Member at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and as an Analyst at the Congressional Research Service.