Mr. Dassaro, a former Senior United States Border Patrol Agent (USBP Class 252), federal union labor leader, and professional employee and labor relations practitioner, offers a deep and diverse professional and academic background.  Most recently, he served as a Senior National Level (HQ) Lead Employee Labor Relations Consultant and Analyst at a prominent and very large federal department. In this role, he provided consultative, analytical, and transactional services to both frontline and executive-level managers and leadership personnel, including SES and political appointees.

 

Mr. Dassaro's expertise in federal and public personnel matters spans four decades and includes academic credentials (B.A. in Labor Studies and M.A. in Legal and Ethical Studies), and thirty-eight years of experience in administrative, personnel law, civil, criminal, immigration law, and investigations. His extensive experience encompasses representing public sector agencies, labor unions, and individual employees in complicated administrative appeals, complaints, negotiations, and hearings.

 

Notably, Mr. Dassaro was the recipient of twenty-one consecutive outstanding performance ratings and numerous awards, across multiple federal agencies and rating officials, in the Executive Career Field (ECF) and as a Senior Employee and Labor Relations Specialist. He holds nine consecutive annual outstanding performance ratings as ELR Chief in the ECF performance evaluation program and twelve consecutive annual outstanding performance ratings as a Senior ELR Specialist. Additionally, he has received numerous individual and team recognition awards. He is recognized as a subject matter expert (SME) in federal personnel administrative law and administration. His significant experience includes third-party proceedings before various agencies, such as the MSPB, EEOC, FLRA, FSIP, and OSC. He has also provided Subject Matter Expert (SME) testimony and attorney advisory support in numerous administrative, criminal, and civil proceedings as well as in congressional testimony. Additionally, he has served on over one-hundred federal applicant selection panels and was the designated selecting (hiring) official in over thirty. 

As a regional Employee Labor Relations Chief, Mr. Dassaro directed an employee and labor relations regional and national-level workgroup that served multiple federal agency locations and facilities regionally and across the country. This group was responsible for an employee and labor relations program with jurisdiction and responsibility of over 5,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) ancillary staff, Title 38/Title 5 personnel, multiple AFGE bargaining units with different local unions, and intra-agency service agreements. Provided services encompassed the entire federal Employee Labor Relations (ELR) spectrum, including liaison with regional attorneys and the US Attorney's office, contract negotiations, suitability and security adjudications, adverse actions, disciplinary actions, defending against EEO complaints, liability mitigation, investigations, supervision of federal retirement specialists, compliance, investigations of senior officials, and performance management. Additionally, Mr. Dassaro had the authority to authorize and manage extensive settlement discretion and processing in civil and administrative matters on behalf of the Federal government.

 

As a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Mr. Dassaro served in the San Diego Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol and was a prominent figure known for his long-standing and aggressive leadership within the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), specifically as the longtime President of NBPC Local 1613, the largest local union representing federal law enforcement officers. His role in San Diego was defined by his tenure as a high-profile whistleblower and union leader. As President of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) Local 1613, he became the face of internal resistance against the government's official narrative of border security in the late 1990s. During the late 1990s, Mr. Dassaro was a vocal critic of how Operation Gatekeeper (the 1994 strategic plan to secure the San Diego border) was being managed.  This criticism resulted in a large scale investigation by the Department of Justice. While the Inspector General’s 1998 report acknowledged "problems with the way statistics were compiled," it ultimately concluded there was no widespread conspiracy to "fix" the numbers. In 2001, he championed a $1 million lawsuit on behalf of agents who claimed they were retaliated against for criticizing the agency, arguing that supervisors had conducted "unauthorized surveillance" of agents' private free speech.  The Department of Justice settled this lawsuit.  Mr. Dassaro remained active in immigration and border security policy through the mid-2000s, often testifying against measures like California’s SB-60 (driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants), which he described as a severe threat to national security. He also appeared in the documentary Green Cards for al Qaeda by filmmaker Surya Iacono. Mr. Dassaro was also responsible for spearheading implementation of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) Legal Defense Fund (LDF) to provide duty related legal coverage for U.S. Border Patrol Agents.