Weeks after the Trump administration seized Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Prince George’s County, stashed him in a Salvadoran prison and flouted courts ordering his return, it was Maryland’s genteel senator who grabbed the world by the collar to demand its attention.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, an understated, polite Capitol Hill veteran, is more likely to file a banking bill in the Senate finance committee than he is to wedge himself between an authoritarian dictator and a belligerent American president.

But for those who know the Democratic lawmaker, his mission to defend one man’s legal rights in the name of all Americans was unsurprising.

The trip comes as Democrats are seeking effective tactics to counter President Donald Trump and have sought new ways to lead. Van Hollen is one of a handful of Democrats pushing the limits of their influence.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has used his dynamic speaking skills to draw media attention as he protested Trump in a record-breaking 25-hour Senate speech. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launched a national tour, drawing tens of thousands of people to hear them rail against Trump live.

Van Hollen’s Central American fact-finding mission has shined a spotlight on the Trump administration’s defiance of American courts. It also yielded an unintended consequence — setting Van Hollen apart as someone willing to take a stand, and making him a more visible and rising leader.

All he was doing, he said, was what he thought was right.

“In my view, it’s not worth being in the United States Senate if you can’t look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day,” he said. “I mean, what’s the point?”

Van Hollen said he had “some indication” his efforts would be supported when he was given a standing ovation at a Hagerstown town hall after announcing his trip to check on Abrego Garcia, but otherwise had no idea he’d receive such an outpouring of support.

The applause was appreciated, but he said he’d “already decided to go regardless of the consequences.”

Abrego Garcia’s case, he said, is a violation of due process rights, as the country is under threat from a “lawless” president.

“I just have faith that at the end of the day, when Americans recognize that it’s our constitutional rights that are at stake, that’s where they will stand,” he said.

But it’s undeniable that as Van Hollen practiced constituent services in extremis, he’s raised his own profile.

Daniel Schlozman, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University, said Van Hollen is uniquely situated as Abrego Garcia’s senator to act, but in doing so has perhaps answered a restive base.

Van Hollen has “burnished his credentials” as an informal leader among Democrats, Schlozman said. If he was looking to climb, Schlozman said, “This is a very good way to do it.“

The senator already sits on powerful committees and previously held Democratic leadership roles during his time in the House of Representatives. He quickly rose to those positions under Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It tracks for those who have known Van Hollen for years that he’s taking action.

His longtime legislative partner and recently retired Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin said Van Hollen has always been viewed as a “tremendous talent” and there’s “no limit” to the opportunities in front of him.

But in this political moment, Cardin said he sees Van Hollen just being himself.

“I’ve seen this happen over and over again with Sen. Van Hollen,” Cardin said. “When there’s something very principled involved, he’s going to speak his mind.”

Earlier this year, Van Hollen walked out of Trump’s congressional address early, posting on social media he had “had enough.”

And last year Van Hollen boycotted a speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza, explaining his reasons from the Senate floor and asking colleagues to join him.

Sheila O’Connell, a political strategist who ran Van Hollen’s successful 2016 Senate bid and more recently Sen. Angela Alsobrooks’ campaign, said she sees what Van Hollen is doing as “authentic” to him, just like Booker, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez on the national stage.

“His willingness to stand up for people, to stand up against institutions to do the right thing,” O’Connell said, adding, “that’s a fight that people want to see.”

Not all Democrats agreed with Van Hollen’s trek, however. Some think immigration issues are a trap and taking on the thorny case of Abrego Garcia played right into Trump’s strong political hand with a man they said was not an ideal “poster child” for due process.

But Van Hollen brushed aside those criticisms, saying he didn’t believe in testing a shifting political wind before acting. The key, he said, was to “break through” with a message that Abrego Garcia’s case is about everyone’s constitutional rights.

“That’s the playbook of the Trump administration, to take people’s eyes off the real issue,” he said.

The Trump administration has so far denied a unanimous U.S Supreme Court order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, and the president has called Van Hollen a “fake” and a “grandstander” for confronting his administration’s sweeping deportation efforts with a congressional fact-finding mission.

And while Van Hollen was in El Salvador, and for days after his return, Republicans have peppered official social media accounts with disputed allegations that Abrego Garcia was a gang member and resurfacing the killing of a Maryland woman by an undocumented immigrant in a case that has nothing to do with him.

Van Hollen responded to this on Sunday talk shows, saying: “I’m not sure why Abrego Garcia’s rights should be denied based on an awful murder that he had absolutely nothing to do with.”

Before Trump’s amped up mass deportation efforts ensnared Abrego Garcia, the senator had been at the forefront of speaking out against Trump’s agenda, staging rallies with fired federal workers, holding town halls and listening to Marylanders worried about losing their government benefits.

But none of this brand of dissent brought Van Hollen the megaphone that Abrego Garcia’s case has.

In a singular photo shared around the world, Van Hollen sat across from Abrego Garcia at a dining table at his San Salvador hotel. The pressure of global media attention, Van Hollen suspected, had twisted the arm of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

Abrego Garcia has not been released from prison and the Trump administration has indicated they have no intention of bringing him back. Van Hollen and others in Congress have promised to continue fighting for his return.

Meanwhile, Marylanders have heard their senator’s message, and some say they are seeing him in a new light.

Baltimore County teacher Mike Stanik said Van Hollen was “a fairly boring senator” compared to other, more outspoken members of his party.

“This is what he should be doing as a senator from Maryland for an individual from Maryland,” Stanik said.

“It’s great watching him step into the moment,” said Joanna Snyder, a 47-year-old science teacher from Silver Spring.

In the past, Snyder has supported Van Hollen more out of party loyalty than a strong connection to his policies or persona. But that has changed as she’s watched the senator fight for Abrego Garcia.

“I feel represented by his outrage and concern,” she said. “It feels deeply genuine, and I think it’s resonating with people.”

Before he boarded a plane for El Salvador, Van Hollen made a social media video from the airport terminal.

A travel bag slung over one shoulder — and about to enter a political firestorm — he said he was heading out of the country to check on his constituent.

It was about the rule of law, Van Hollen said — “If we get rid of due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny.”

Baltimore Banner reporter Sapna Bansil contributed to this story.