Memorial services for Jesse Jackson begin at Chicago headquarters of his civil rights organization

CHICAGO (AP) — Cross-country memorial services for the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. are set to begin Thursday in Chicago, the city the late civil rights leader called home.

The protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate will lie in repose for two days at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition before events in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born.

“The outpouring of love and support received from around the globe has been abundant and deeply felt,” Jackson's family members said in a recent statement.

Jackson died last week at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.

Remembrances have already poured in from around the globe, and several U.S. states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, are flying flags at half-staff in his honor.

But perhaps nowhere has his death been felt as strongly as in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.

Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home on the city’s South Side for days. Public schools have offered condolences, and city trains have used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra, “I am Somebody!”

His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.

“We honor him, and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher, and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

Next week, Jackson will lie in honor at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services with remarks from Gov. Henry McMaster and a wreath placement ceremony. Jackson spent his childhood and started his activism in South Carolina.

Details on services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.

The two weeks of events will wrap up next week with a large celebration of life gathering at a Chicago megachurch and finally, homegoing services at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Family members said the services will be open to all.

“His life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be American,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., told reporters recently. “We only ask people to come and be respectful in context of the extraordinary life he lived.”

Darius Brooks is emotional during a news conference regarding the death of the Rev. Jesse Jacksond outside the family home Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Jesse Jackson, Jr. stands near a picture of his father, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, during a news conference outside the family home in Chicago, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia will try to persuade a federal judge in Tennessee on Thursday to throw out human smuggling charges against him.

Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump's administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States.

While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That's because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

After he was deported to El Salvador last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration had to work to bring him back. He was eventually returned to the U.S. only to face criminal charges of human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive.” The judge said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” He specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful deportation case.

Abrego Garcia's attorneys have been sparring with prosecutors for months over whether officials like Blanche would be required to testify at Thursday's hearing and what emails Justice Department officials would have to turn over to them. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire has argued that he alone made the decision to prosecute, so the motives of other officials were irrelevant.

Crenshaw personally reviewed many of the disputed documents. In an order that was unsealed in late December, he wrote, “Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision.”

FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)