For the first time, Americans were able to see and hear Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant who became a symbol of the Trump administration's efforts to expel undocumented immigrants, including by sending them without a court order to distant third countries. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to his home country on March 15 and brought back to the United States on June 6.

After months of court battles and a brief return to his Maryland home, Abrego Garcia, 30, was freed from a Tennessee prison on Friday, August 22. He appeared outside the immigration police office in Baltimore, Maryland, that had summoned him at 8 am on Monday, August 25, intending to detain him once again. Dozens gathered to support Abrego Garcia, chanting, "The people united will never be defeated," a slogan popularized by the Chilean opposition in the 1970s.

Far from the image that had circulated for months of a smiling young immigrant wearing a backward cap, the cameras captured a tired but determined man reluctantly stepping into the role of standard-bearer in the fight against mass deportations. The former metalworker apprentice addressed his supporters in Spanish, urging them to "never lose hope": "Promise me you will keep praying, fighting, resisting, loving, and demanding freedom, not just for me, but for everyone."

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