Upon returning after a 15-day walkout, Texas House Democrats were asked for consent to be escorted off the floor by DPS officers. Nicole Collier refused and was locked in the chamber Monday night.

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

A Democratic state lawmaker who fled Texas in protest of a GOP redistricting effort is asking a court to let her exit the Capitol, after she was told she needs a police escort to leave the building.

Texas State Representative Nicole Collier has emerged as a key figure in the state’s ongoing electoral map controversy.

Texas Republicans insisted that Democrats have around-the-clock police escorts to ensure they wouldn’t leave again.

Democratic state Representative Nicole Collier spent the night in the Texas Capitol building rather than agree to a police monitor that is part of a contentious partisan struggle over redrawing voting districts to keep the national House of Representatives in Republican hands.

Shortly after, a protest formed inside the Capitol with chants in support of Collier, including four women sitting outside the doors of the chamber Monday night surrounded by dozens of Texas DPS officers. An officer told them, "If you do not leave, you're subject to arrest for trespassing," and then they were handcuffed and taken into custody.