Mariana Magaña Gamero was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico but raised in Santa Monica, California. She is a current PhD student in the Sociology Department at UC Irvine. Her research interest revolve around migration, crimmigration, border imperialism, CRT, and legal violence. Mariana attended Santa Monica Community College and transferred to UCLA where she obtained her B.A. in Political Science and minored in Chicanx Studies. After graduating from UCLA she served as a Capital/Executive Fellow in Sacramento and then worked for an immigration non-profit based in Los Angeles County leading city and county policy to advance the human rights of immigrants.