Author of 'Don't Say Abolish ICE' Memo Is a Corporate Consultant

[Celerity]

Blas Nuñez-Neto is a senior adviser to WestExec, a shadow lobbyist for defense and tech firms.

https://prospect.org/2026/01/19/author-dont-say-abolish-ice-memo-corporate-consultant-westexec/


A demonstration against the actions of the Trump administration, January 11, 2026, on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Credit: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP Images

The author of a controversial memo telling Democrats to abandon the slogan “Abolish ICE” and instead focus on reform and retraining is a former Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection official who for the last seven months has worked for WestExec Advisors, a secretive Washington, D.C., shadow lobbyist that counts as clients major government contractors in the defense and surveillance industry.

In an interview with the Prospect, Blas Nuñez-Neto would not say who his clients are at WestExec Advisors, where he is a senior adviser, only that he has consulted in recent years on immigration, customs, and trade. He said casting his memo as serving the interests of those clients would be “a little disingenuous,” while again declining to say who those clients are.

WestExec does not disclose its client list, though the Prospect, The Intercept, and the Revolving Door Project have for years reported that the firm helps tech startups and defense companies get contracts with the U.S. government, though it is not required to register as a lobbyist. Nuñez-Neto’s statement that he has consulted on immigration issues suggests that WestExec is squarely involved at the nexus of militarization and surveillance-state activities by U.S. immigration enforcement agencies.

Some of WestExec’s clients are listed in congressional testimony, press releases, and other documents. President Biden’s director of national intelligence, Avril D. Haines, for example, said during her confirmation hearings that she had worked for WestExec for three years, and that her clients were Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Open Philanthropy. She also said that she didn’t have access to the firm’s entire client list, a claim that other employees of the firm also make.

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