In "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2, Episode 3, "Assimilation,” a crash landing disables most of the ship's power, and the remaining crew forms a plan that involves Seven, Raffi, and Rios seeking out the mysterious "Watcher." They beam from the ship to 2024 Los Angeles, where the Bell Riots are occurring, but Rios is captured, and it’s up to Seven and Raffi to rescue him.

Jurati suggests allowing the Borg Queen to assimilate her to glean information about the Watcher, but the Queen wants the ship in return. Jurati is one step ahead of the Queen, stealing the information from her mind while they’re connected. However, while Picard and Jurati now have the location of the Watcher, they don't know when the timeline-altering event happens.

Rios sustains serious injuries while transporting, but since he has no ID, he finds himself in a clinic specializing in the treatment of undocumented migrants. The clinic is raided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and as the officers drag Rios out the door, his comms badge is left behind.

The episode carries on the show’s tradition of revisiting a time closer to our own and seeing how far we currently are from the utopian society envisioned by Gene Roddenberry. It's clear the show wants to foreground the deeply unstable society of the 2020s, as showrunner Akiva Goldsman said, "I think Star Trek has always been uniquely good at [...] shining a light on our times."