The New York Times:

Illinois, a Democratic state, was supposed to be a haven, but Texas Democrats have been unable to escape escalating legal and political threats that have gone further and come faster than many of them had anticipated, based on earlier walkouts in 2021 and 2003. Now they are wondering just how long they can hold out — and hoping to make it to the end of the special legislative session they left behind, which is set to end Aug. 19.

“They’re using hardball, unconventional, authoritarian tactics that we didn’t see in 2021,” said State Representative Ron Reynolds, a Houston Democrat who was part of the group at the hotel in St. Charles. “People are concerned. We’re looking over our shoulder.”

Those tactics keep coming.

On Tuesday, Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, called for F.B.I. agents to round up the Democrats who were camped out in Illinois. Mr. Trump seemed to endorse the idea of federal agents getting involved — “They may have to,” he said that evening — though the agency has not commented.

The same day, the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, took steps to remove the absent lawmakers from office. That initially drew scoffs. Then hours later, Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court asking for the state’s high court to vacate the Texas House seat of the walkout’s leader, State Representative Gene Wu of Houston, claiming he had abandoned it.

The state’s high court gave Mr. Wu until Friday evening to respond. Friday is also the deadline set by Mr. Paxton for the absent Democrats to return, before he begins removal proceedings against many of them.