State Rep. Nicole Collier can’t leave the Texas Capitol building because she won’t sign a paper agreeing to a state police escort.

Other Texas Democrats, including from DFW, joined Rep. Nicole Collier after they tore up their “permission slips” to leave the chamber.

“Way to go Rep Collier!” Rep. Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, said in a post on X. “Don’t sign the slip! This is why we need to keep Voting Rights Act! Making someone sign a permission slip is way too antebellum!!! This is ridiculous! And, it’s so natural for them (GOP) to behave this way! It’s systemic in their every day actions!”

The Fort Worth Democrat was confined in the Capitol overnight after refusing to be shadowed by state police, a requirement for lawmakers who had left the state.

State Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth is the only Democrat who refused Republican leaders’ orders to sign a permission slip and accept a police escort in order to leave the chamber.

Rep. Nicole Collier is refusing to sign an order requiring a DPS escort in the Texas House redistricting battle, drawing support from fellow Democrats.

The standoff began on Monday, when Democratic members returned to the Capitol after being out of the state for more than two weeks due to a controversial redistricting map. Rep. Collier refused to agree to leave the chamber under the surveillance of the Department of Public Safety.

Texas Republicans mandated that Democratic lawmakers not be allowed to leave the state house without a permission slip and a police escort.