Two El Paso state representatives accused the Texas Department of Public Safety of harassment Friday as part of a fight over a controversial redistricting plan requested by President Donald Trump.
“There were six marked DPS units that were sent to my neighborhood, stretching the length of the entire street, causing anxiety and worry among my elderly neighbors,” said state Rep. Vince Perez, a Democrat who lives in the Lower Valley. He joined other members of his party in leaving the state over the weekend to prevent the quorum necessary for the Texas House to take up the redistricting plan.
“This is an excessive show of force and expensive use of tax funds in an attempt to intimidate me and my family and to detract from Republican efforts to dramatically under-represent Texas Hispanics back to 1960s levels. It will not work,” he said.
State Rep. Claudia Ordaz, a Democrat who has been absent from the Capitol this week for what she has described as personal reasons, said DPS sent officers to the home of one of her family members in an attempt to locate her.
“From the very beginning, I have made it clear: I will not be in the chamber due to a personal health matter. Yet today, DPS officers showed up to a member of my family’s home looking for me,” Ordaz said in a statement to El Paso Matters and later shared on Instagram, which she said was written from a hospital waiting room.
“Harassing my family, spreading lies, and dragging my name into political games is beyond unacceptable – it is a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic,” said Ordaz, who also was angered by a Facebook post that falsely said she was returning to the Capitol on Friday to reestablish a quorum.
DPS officials haven’t responded to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
Perez has made no secret of his location. He flew to Chicago over the weekend to join most of the Texas House Democrats in their effort to at least stall the Republican redistricting plan. He was among five House Democrats who flew to Sacramento on Friday to meet with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other national party leaders.
Ordaz has declined to discuss her whereabouts, or provide details on the reason she is not at the Capitol this week for the legislative special session. She has not commented on whether she supports the Democrats’ efforts to break the quorum required for the House to conduct its business.
State Rep. Joe Moody, who represents Northeast and West El Paso, has been one of a handful of Democrats at the Texas Capitol this week. He has said he supports the efforts to disrupt the quorum, but felt he could be more useful fighting the redistricting plan from Austin.
State Rep. Mary González, who represents much of the rural part of El Paso County in the Lower Valley, has not been present in Austin this week and has not been seen in Chicago or other areas where her fellow Democrats have gone to block the quorum.
González has declined to comment to El Paso Matters about her efforts or her location, but she has been critical of the Republican redistricting plan.
Gov. Greg Abbott included congressional redistricting on the agenda for a special session that began July 21 and ends Aug. 19 after Trump asked Texas Republicans to redraw congressional maps to give the GOP five more seats heading into the 2026 election.
More than 50 House Democrats stopped attending House sessions starting Monday, preventing the quorum necessary for the chamber to take action on redistricting or other items on the special session agenda. Most of the Democrats have gone to Illinois, placing them out of reach of Texas law officers who have warrants to arrest them and compel them to return to the Capitol.
Republican leaders have ramped up the pressure on the absent Democrats. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the FBI agreed to his request to aid in finding the lawmakers and bringing them back to Texas. It’s not clear what authority the FBI has.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed warrants that allow for DPS to round up any absent lawmakers in the state.
Abbott has filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court in an effort to strip House Minority Leader Gene Wu of Houston of his legislative seat, alleging he abandoned the seat by leaving the state.
Moody and González filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court on Friday, criticizing Abbott’s efforts to remove Wu and replace him with someone of Abbott’s choosing.
“This legislative battle began because legislators wanted to pick their voters. This legal battle would cut voters out entirely and allow a partisan governor to pick his legislators. That puts us on the brink of naked authoritarianism. This court should take no part in hurtling us over that edge into the endless darkness below,” Moody and González said in their filing.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging Cornyn in the 2026 Republican Senate primary, filed a lawsuit Friday in the Texas Supreme Court seeking to strip 13 absent House members of their legislative seats, alleging they abandoned their positions. No El Paso lawmakers are named in the suit.
Paxton also filed a lawsuit Friday in Tarrant County against Beto O’Rourke of El Paso and his political action committee, Powered by People, which has been raising money to support Democratic efforts to block redistricting. O’Rourke – a former congressman and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and governor – has said Paxton is trying to intimidate his political opponents.
The post El Paso lawmakers say they’re being harassed by DPS over absence from Austin in redistricting fight appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More