Republican Texas senator John Cornyn on Thursday said the FBI acquiesced to his request to track down Texas lawmakers, mainly Democrats, who fled the state to avoid voting on a redistricting map that might shift clout to the Republicans.

“I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the F.B.I. to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,” the senator said in a statement on Thursday days after asking the FBI to wade into the matter. “We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities.”

Dozens of state legislators left the state to hibernate in Illinois, a jurisdiction they thought the Texas law doesn’t apply, in a coordinated effort to ensure the House lacks the required number of lawmakers to form a quorum. 

When talks first surfaced of a possible FBI involvement, Governor JB Pritzker laughed it off. He asserted the Bureau had no business meddling in such matters, particularly because that there is no law authorising such deployment.

“They’re grandstanding.” said the Illinois governor. “There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation, none they can say that they’re sending F.B.I.”

Even if FBI agents were deployed, Mr Pritzker said it would only be for the purpose of intimidating the lawmakers.

“The F.B.I. agents might show up just to, I don’t know, again, to put a show on,” Mr Pritzker said. 

The Republicans have the majority 219 seats in the House, albeit a narrow margin to 212 democrats. President Donald Trump is backing the redistricting legislation to give more seats to his party members ahead of the midterm elections.

It remains unclear the law the FBI will rely on to bring back the fleeing legislators.