Biography

Mario Varo is a first-year Ph.D. student and Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow in the Department of Sociology at UCLA. His research examines immigration enforcement and border externalization along the U.S.–Mexico border, with particular attention to their consequences for migrant health and human rights. Before beginning his doctoral studies, Mario worked in the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez border region with Hope Border Institute, conducting research on migration and human rights while volunteering at their mobile health clinic serving asylum seekers.

Mario began his higher education journey at Chaffey College before transferring to UC Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. He is a proud first-generation college student from California’s Inland Empire and comes from a family of immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico.