LAREDO, Texas — Jennifer De La O, formerly director of Field Operations for the Boston Field Office, has taken over as director of Field Operations for the Laredo Field Office, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She succeeds DFO Donald R. Kusser, who is moving to the same role at the Los Angeles Field Office.
De La O said she’s excited and honored to come back home to Texas to lead a field office she described as innovating, enforcement driven, and committed to protecting the country from national security threats.
The Laredo Field Office is the largest Office of Field Operations workforce in CBP. De La O now leads nearly 3,500 employees across eight ports of entry along 450 miles of the Southwest Border, stretching from Del Rio to Brownsville, including the Machinery Center for Excellence and Expertise. That territory covers 18 international bridges, eight airports, three rail crossings, and one seaport, processing 59 million international travelers a year, 60 percent of all commercial truck traffic and 82 percent of all railcars along the Southwest Border, and accounting for more than $315 billion in trade.
CBP officers in the Laredo Field Office had a busy year in fiscal year 2025, seizing 71,733 pounds of narcotics valued at $674 million while processing over 4.4 million commercial trucks, 21.2 million privately owned vehicles, 11.2 million pedestrians, and 51,743 buses.
Before Laredo, De La O ran the Boston Field Office, overseeing CBP operations across a six-state New England region that includes 750 miles of land border with Canada. She directed 1,100 employees there and managed the arrival of more than 9.5 million international travelers and over $61 billion in imported goods, working under DHS and CBP Headquarters to keep programs tied to anti-terrorism, immigration, customs, agriculture, and trade running properly at Boston-Logan International Airport, five smaller commercial airports, 17 seaports, and 39 land border ports of entry.
Earlier in her career, she served as acting deputy executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Field Operations, a role in which she led 31,000 employees and managed a $6.5 billion annual budget covering operations at 328 U.S. ports of entry.
De La O has held numerous leadership positions across her career with CBP, including interim director for the San Diego Field Office, area port director for the Port of Buffalo, New York, assistant director of Border Security for the Boston Field Office, area port director for the Service Port of Minneapolis, and director of the Field Liaison Division at CBP Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
She began her CBP career as a U.S. Customs Inspector at Los Angeles International Airport in July 1999. A West Texas native, De La O graduated from Sul Ross State University and holds a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. She’s also a 2013 graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business CBP Leadership Institute.
