Texas House Issues Arrest Warrants For Rogue Democrats Who Fled To Blue States

The Texas House on Monday directed the sergeant-at-arms to track down and arrest dozens of rogue Democratic lawmakers who fled the state on Sunday.

Republicans in the House passed a resolution directing law enforcement to arrest, if necessary, over 50 Democratic lawmakers who refused to attend Monday’s legislative session in protest of a GOP-led redistricting effort, according to The Texas Tribune. The order is not enforceable outside of Texas, so it will likely have little effect, as most Democrats fled to Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to assist in the effort to return the rogue lawmakers to the state Capitol. No civil or criminal charges will be attached to the arrest warrants.

Democrats fled the state on Sunday to deny the state legislature the quorum needed to conduct business, effectively stalling Republicans from passing a new map of congressional districts drawn to give the GOP favorable odds at picking up at least five more U.S. House seats in the Lone Star State.

“They left because they are very un-Texan. Texans don’t run from a fight,” Abbott said in an appearance on Fox News on Monday. “To run to states like New York and Illinois to protest redistricting is kind of like running to Wisconsin to protest cheese. It’s just kind of outrageous.”

The governor also said that the rogue Democrats may be exposed to felony bribery charges after they requested donations to pay for their plan to flee the state. He added that the Democrats, in crippling the state’s ability to conduct legislative business, have left the government unable to pass legislation to help the victims of severe flooding in central Texas earlier this year.

The Texas Democrats have appeared alongside blue state leaders such as New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker in their own public relations efforts to justify their absconding from Texas.

“We’re not here to play political games. We’re here to demand, to demand an end to this corrupt process,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the Democratic caucus in the state House. “We asked them to stop hiding things from the public. We asked them to stop doing things behind closed doors. We asked them to stop attacking Texas communities. They refused because their loyalty and fealty to Donald Trump overrides all other interests.”