texas legislature

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court has vacated a ruling that a Texas law giving police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. was unconstitutional.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday vacated a ruling by a three-judge panel, and now the full court will consider whether the law can take effect.

The Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 4 in 2023, but a federal judge in Texas ruled the law unconstitutional. Texas appealed that ruling.

Under the proposed law, state law enforcement officers could arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, detainees could agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the country or face a misdemeanor charge of entering the U.S. illegally. Migrants who don’t leave after being ordered to do so could be arrested again and charged with a more serious felony.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a social media post Friday that the court’s decision was a “hopeful sign.”

AUSTIN, Texas — Both parties expected Republicans to win an early round Wednesday in a growing national redistricting battle by pushing a congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats past its biggest obstacle in the Texas Legislature.

The Republican-controlled Texas House planned to vote on a redistricting plan that resulted from prodding by President Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business.

Some Democrats returned Monday, only to be assigned round-the-clock police escorts to ensure their attendance at Wednesday’s session. Seven who refused were confined to the House floor, where they protested on a livestream Tuesday night, led by Rep. Nicole Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth. Her staff removed a pillow, blanket and bag of personal effects early Wednesday.

As lawmakers trickled into the chamber, several Democrats gave Collier a hug, said “Thank you,” and took photos with her. In a social media post Tuesday night, Collier put a call from 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on her cellphone’s speaker. Harris told Collier that, “We are all in that room with you.”

“We are making a difference,” she said after the call. “People are watching and they are ready to hold this government accountable.”

House approval of the map would send it to the Senate for a vote as early as Thursday. Passage there also is expected, and not enough Democrats walked out previously to prevent the chamber from working. Democrats said they’re preparing to challenge the new map in court.

Furious national Democrats have vowed payback for the Texas map, with California’s legislature poised to approve new maps adding more Democratic-friendly seats later this week. The map would still need to be approved by that state’s voters in November.

Normally, states redraw maps once a decade with new census figures. But Trump is lobbying other conservative-controlled states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to squeeze new GOP-friendly seats out of their maps as his party prepares for a difficult midterm election next year.

Democrats are energized by the fight in Texas

As House session was about to begin, about two dozen demonstrators supporting Democrats sang “Fighting for Democracy, we shall not be moved” outside the chamber. GOP House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced that the public gallery will be cleared if there are disruptions. The public gallery was mostly empty as the session was gaveled in.

But the 100 members required to do business were present. About 200 people have gathered in the Capitol’s rotunda for a rally supporting Democrats, holding signs saying “End Gerrymandering — Save Democracy,” “Defend the Constitution” and “Fascism is here.”

Texas Democrats spent the day before the vote continuing to draw attention to the extraordinary lengths the Republicans who run the legislature were going to ensure it takes place.

Collier started it when she refused to sign what Democrats called the “permission slip” required by Burrows to leave the House chamber, a half-page form allowing Department of Public Safety troopers to follow them. Collier spent Monday night and Tuesday on the House floor, where she set up a livestream while her Democratic colleagues outside had plainclothes officers following them to their offices and homes.

Dallas-area Rep. Linda Garcia said she drove three hours home from Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she spoke to The Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her home.

“It’s a weird feeling,” she said. “The only way to explain the entire process is: It’s like I’m in a movie.”

Dallas-area Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez joined the protest inside the House chamber and called it a “slumber party for democracy,” and she said Democrats were holding strategy sessions on the floor.

“We are not criminals,” Houston Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said before also joining Collier.

Collier said having officers shadow her was an attack on her dignity and an attempt to control her movements.

Republican leader says Collier ‘is well within her rights’

Burrows brushed off Collier’s protest, saying he was focused on important issues, such as providing property tax relief and responding to last month’s deadly floods. His statement Tuesday morning did not mention redistricting, and his office did not immediately respond to other Democrats joining Collier.

“Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules,” Burrows said.

Under those rules, until Wednesday’s vote, the chamber’s doors were locked, and no member could leave “without the written permission of the speaker.”

Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust Rep. Gene Wu of Houston — the House minority leader — and several other Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent.

Democrats outside the Capitol reported different levels of monitoring and some said the officers watching them were friendly. But Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole said in a social media post that when she went on her morning walk Tuesday, the officer following her lost her on the trail, got angry and threatened to arrest her.

Garcia said the officer who tailed her home also came in the grocery store when she went shopping with her 9-year-old son.

“I would imagine that this is the way it feels when you’re potentially shoplifting and someone is assessing whether you’re going to steal,” she said.

Vertuno and Riccardi write for the Associated Press. Riccardi reported from Denver. John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

Gov. Gavin Newsom stood alongside six Democrats from the Texas Legislature on Friday and joined them in accusing President Trump and Republicans of trying to “rig” elections to hold onto congressional seats next year.

“They play by a different set of rules and we could sit back and act as if we have some moral authority and watch this 249-, 250-year-old experiment be washed away,” Newsom said of the nation’s history. “We are not going to allow that to happen.”

The Texas lawmakers and the governor spoke with reporters after meeting privately at the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento to discuss a national political fight over electoral maps that could alter the outcome of the midterm elections and balance of power in Congress.

At the urging of President Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called his state Legislature into a special session this week that includes a call to redistrict the Lone Star State to help Republicans pick up seats in Congress.

The move is part of a gerrymandering effort pushed by Trump to prevent the GOP from losing control of the House of Representatives next year. If Democrats take the House, they could derail the president’s agenda, which has so far included a crackdown on undocumented immigrants, tariffs on imports, rescinding efforts to combat climate change and undercutting state protections for the LGTBQ+ community, among other policy priorities.

Newsom has threatened to mirror Trump’s tactics and said he’s in talks with leaders of the California Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor electing more Democrats and fewer Republicans.

Texas Democrats, who said they traveled to California to meet with the governor and explain the state of play in Texas, pledged do everything in their power to push back against Trump’s plan.

“We’re going to use every tool at our disposal in the state of Texas to confront this very illegal redistricting process that is going to be done on the backs of historic African American and Latino districts,” said Texas state Rep. Rafael Anchía.

Another group of Texas lawmakers are expected to meet with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in Chicago.

Changing the maps to benefit Democrats is a massive departure from California’s work over the last decade to remove political partisanship from the redistricting process.

California voters in 2010 gave an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission the power to determine the boundaries of voting districts for the U.S. House of Representatives instead of leaving that authority with the state Legislature.

To redistrict before the midterms, the most legally sound option is for state lawmakers to send a constitutional amendment to voters that seeks to allow changes to the voter map outside the boundaries of California’s independent redistricting process. The vote would need to happen in a special election before the June primary.

Newsom has said he’s also exploring a potential legal loophole that could allow the California Legislature to redraw the congressional maps themselves with a two-thirds vote.

The governor’s office said state law charges the redistricting commission with crafting new maps after a census, which is conducted about every 10 years. But they say the law is silent on everything that happens in between that time period.

Newsom’s lawyers believe it could be possible for the Legislature to redistrict congressional seats mid-decade on its own without going to the ballot.

The governor’s call to fight Trump using his own gerrymandering tactics has drawn a mixed response.

Newsom argues that Democrats will continue to lose if they remain the only party that plays by the rules. But others worry about the integrity of electoral outcomes across the nation if political parties in every state resort to naked political gamesmanship to gain control.

Texas Republicans have long been accused of crafting political maps to dilute the power of Black and Latino voters, which led to an ongoing lawsuit from 2021. Newsom’s effort in California would effectively seek to increase the share of Democrats in Republican-held districts.

Redistricting experts in California say redrawing the maps in the Golden State could create the potential for Democrats to flip at least five of the seats held by GOP incumbents.

Democrats may have the potential for greater gains from gerrymandering, particularly in places such as California that have attempted to practice nonpartisan redistricting, compared to states such as Texas, where maps are already drawn in favor of Republicans.

“It should be no surprise to anybody who covers Texas that every decade since 1970 Texas has been found to discriminate against people of color in its redistricting process,” Anchía said.

“In trying to do this, it is going to create great harm, not only to the people we represent, to the voters of the state of Texas, but also potentially to all Americans,” he said about Trump’s plan.

It’s common for the party in control of the White House to lose seats nationally in the first election after a presidential contest. Republicans hold majorities in the Senate and the House, and losing power to Democrats could be detrimental to Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s job approval rating dropped to a second-term low of 37% in a Gallup poll conducted earlier this month. The dip is just above his lowest approval rating ever of 34% at the end of his first term.

Trump has said publicly that he thinks it’s possible for Republicans to redistrict and pick up five seats in Texas, with the potential for gains in other states that redraw their maps.