When Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol in Austin on Monday, after having fled the state earlier this month in order to prevent a vote on a controversial Republican redistricting plan, House Speaker Dustin Burrows put constraints on their movements.

Burrows announced that the Democrats could only leave the House floor if they received written permission and agreed to be under law enforcement escort until the chamber reconvenes on Wednesday morning.

The Democrats who skipped out on previous attempts to meet quorum for a special session to approve the redrawn congressional maps will have an around-the-clock DPS escort to ensure their presence when the House convenes Wednesday, a legislative aide told CNN.

Democrats had fled to blue states — including Illinois, New York and Massachusetts — as they faced civil arrest warrants pushed by GOP officials in Texas to force them back into the House chamber.

. . . At President Donald Trump’s urging, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans who control the state House and Senate launched the effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts mid-decade — a break from most states’ typical practice of redistricting once a decade, after the completion of the US Census.

It’s part of the party’s effort to hold onto its narrow House majority in next year’s midterm elections — one that also includes lobbying GOP officials in Indiana and Missouri to change their maps to turn Democratic-held seats into favorable ground for Republicans, and could see the party add more GOP-leaning seats in Ohio, which is required by state law to redistrict.