Abbott: Texas authorities are 'on the streets' looking for Democratic lawmakers still in the state to arrest them

Greg Abbott assured that agents of the Department of Public Safety of Texas are actively searching for Democratic lawmakers still in the state. The Texas governor spoke to Fox News about members of the Legislature dropping out of a special session to address redistricting. He also initiated the process to recall them.

According to the arrest warrant passed by the state House of Representatives against the Democratic lawmakers, Texas authorities have the authority to arrest them and bring them to the Capitol to complete the session. These warrants are only enforceable within state lines. Republicans need only six more lawmakers to reach a quorum.

While at least 50 Democratic lawmakers left the state and traveled to Illinois or Massachusetts, others remain on Texas soil.

"Texas Department of Public Safety officers are on the streets looking for those Democrat house members to arrest them and to take them to the Texas capital and hold them there until a quorum is reached," Governor Abbott told Fox News.

In addition, he confirmed that he is working with other states to find legal ways to bring back lawmakers who sought refuge in Democratic states.

"We don't know which Democrats remain in the state who are not yet identified. We don't know exactly how many are out of state, but know this also will. And that is, the Texas Department of Public Safety is also working, with officials in other states to find ways in which we can try to arrest the Texas Democrat members in other states and bring them back to the state of Texas," he added.

Could Democratic lawmakers lose their seats?

Also on Tuesday afternoon, Abbott initiated the process to recall the Democratic lawmakers who broke quorum for the special session. The appropriate papers have already been filed with the Texas Supreme Court.

After the abandonment of the quorum, the governor and Attorney General Ken Paxton argue that, by deliberately refusing to respond to the call of the legislative body, those legislators are within the figure of "abandonment of office." With this in mind, they intend to recall the members involved and eventually call for special elections.

Paxton, also a Senate candidate, anticipated that this would be a long and complicated process, given that they would have to file individual lawsuits in each district. "We'd have to go through a court process, and we'd have to file that maybe in districts that are not friendly to Republicans. So it's a challenge because every district would be different," he testified Monday.