Mario currently works as a civil rights attorney and coordinates the joint Immigrant Detention Conditions Project, led by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and Prisoners' Legal Services (PLS), which is focused on supporting immigrants who find themselves incarcerated by the Department of Homeland Security in our county jail system. He also provides expertise and support to local legal aid programs, social service providers, and community organizations on other issues that affect low-income immigrants. As a proponent of community lawyering, Mario aims to take direction from directly impacted communities and from organizers, as opposed to imposing his leadership as a legal advocate.

Before becoming an attorney, Mario spent several years working with various community-based organizations, schools, and nonprofits. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, and Boston Bar Association, and sits on the board of the local immigrants’ rights nonprofit Centro Presente. Mario is a graduate of Boston University School of Law, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and Lehigh University. He is also the proud son of immigrants from Guatemala and has witnessed first-hand how the law, when built upon wrongful assumptions about certain communities, can harm individuals and families.