Texas House Republicans on Monday issued civil arrest warrants for more than 50 Democratic representatives who slipped across state lines to deny the chamber a quorum for debating new redistricting maps, thrusting the legislature into its second walk-out crisis in four years.
The warrants, signed by House Speaker Dustin Burrows and enforceable only within Texas, instruct the Department of Public Safety to detain absent members and return them to the Capitol in Austin. Governor Greg Abbott has also ordered troopers to “assist in the arrests” and said he may call successive 30-day special sessions if the stalemate drags on.
Democrats, now scattered across Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, say the Republican-drawn maps would erode the voting power of minority communities that drove most of the state’s population growth over the past decade.
“My district is majority-minority, and these political games hurt people like mine,” Representative Jessica Gonzalez told reporters in Chicago.
Under House rules adopted in 2023, each lawmaker who breaks quorum faces a fine of $500 a day. Prof Matthew Wilson of Southern Methodist University said removing elected members from office would be “unprecedented” and questioned whether law-enforcement agencies in Democratic-run states would comply with any extradition requests.
Republican leaders counter that the walk-out is delaying unrelated measures, including flood-relief funding, although no such bill has yet reached the floor. They accuse Democrats of trying to thwart efforts backed by President Donald Trump to secure at least five additional Republican seats in the U.S. House through mid-term redistricting.
The current special session expires on 19 August, but Mr Abbott has signalled he will restart the clock until the maps pass.
A previous Democratic exodus in 2021 lasted nearly five weeks before members returned and a voting-restrictions bill was approved.
The U.S. will impose "never seen before" measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, Washington's Treasury Secreta...
Record rainfall in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture has killed four people and left thousands stranded overnight at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, as ...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province. A man died of the v...
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
Record rainfall in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture has killed four people and left thousands stranded overnight at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, as torrential rain disrupted rail, bus and texi services across the prefracture and left more than 20,000 households without power.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province. A man died of the virus in Bas-Uélé in the north, the African Union’s health agency said.
At least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine last month, according to UN investigators, marking the highest monthly civilian casualty toll since March 2022.
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy to abandon its next planned electromagnetic aircraft launch system and return to steam-powered catapults on a future aircraft carrier, while also authorising limited overseas ship construction to help address naval capacity shortfalls.
A diplomatic dispute has erupted between Cuba and the Dominican Republic after Santo Domingo ordered the withdrawal of several Cuban diplomats and their family members, prompting a sharp response from Havana.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment