Rep. Nicole Collier refused GOP ‘permission slip’ rule, was locked in the Texas chamber — and slept in her bonnet overnight to protest

The detainment of State Rep. Nicole Collier has drawn outrage and imagery of Black women’s suffrage in America.

Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier is being hailed by Democrats after refusing to agree to a demand by Republican leadership in the state House of Representatives to be under law enforcement supervision to leave the Capitol chamber.

Collier, who was among 50 Texas Democrats who fled the state in protest of what they called a racially gerrymandered congressional map, declined to sign a permission slip requiring a Department of Public Safety escort to ensure she didn’t again flee and delay the legislature’s approval of the controversial map. By refusing, Collier was not allowed to leave the chamber until the House reconvenes on Wednesday.

“This was my night, bonnet and all, in the #txlege,” wrote Collier in an Instagram caption of a photo she shared of herself inside the Texas House chamber, where she slept overnight.

In making her decision to protest the demand from the Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows, Collier, who represents Fort Worth, said she refused to “sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts.”

“My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents — I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination,” said the Texas lawmaker.

Collier is being praised by fellow Democrats and activists for challenging what they call clear authoritarian behavior.

“It signifies this power grab that has come all the way from President [Donald] Trump down to our state legislature,” said Zoe Cadore, a Democratic candidate for Texas’s 18th Congressional District, which is being impacted by the Republicans’ map redistricting.

Cadore told theGrio, “If you do not get in line, they will execute every inch of power they have to try to confine you. The symbolism around it is very disturbing.”

She continued, “You are symbolizing that if you step out of line, we are not only going to detain you, but we’re going to do it in a way that is humiliating and potentially dangerous.”

For many, the fact that Collier is a Black woman in a southern state like Texas makes the symbolism even more ominous.

“There’s a Black woman locked in a building, her very body is being controlled by these devils because she won’t sign a stank piece [of] paper promising to return to work like she’s a damn slave,” said activist Tamika Mallory, who is the founder of Until Freedom, a social justice advocacy group.

Mallory continued, “If this isn’t enough to WAKE US UP, I don’t know what is. It’s time ya’ll. Truth is, it’s BEEN time.”

Cadore also raised concerns about the optics of Collier as a Black woman being policed by a political body comprised of mostly white men.

“Waking up to the images of a Black woman sleeping by herself in the Texas chambers with only a bonnet and a blanket, as if she’s a criminal, that’s very disturbing to see, considering the history of Black women in this country under the control and the authorization of white men,” the congressional candidate told theGrio.

Cadore added, “I don’t think that grown women who are able to make laws that govern our state need to be watched over like they are children.”

The detainment of Collier led to peaceful protesters gathering at the state Capitol building in Austin, where they shouted, “Let her out!” The demand has also become a rallying cry online for Collier’s release.

Rep. Collier thanked her supporters and urged them to “continue to resist” the actions of Republicans.

“We don’t have to take the bullies…we don’t have to let them push us over. We can stand up against them,” Collier said in a social media video. “I’m drawing the line in the sand, and I’m glad that you are. Continue to resist and let them know that you won’t back down and that you demand fair representation and fair maps.”

Collier’s protest adds another layer to the ongoing battle in Texas over a congressional map that dilutes the voting populations of majority Black and Hispanic voters in districts represented by mostly Black Democratic members of Congress.

Cadore, who is running in a Houston congressional district that remains a majority Black district, slammed the Republican Party’s redistricting scheme as a “desperation” to take and maintain power and control on behalf of President Trump, who demanded the Texas map be redrawn to give his party at least five more congressional seats.

“He has passed policies that are harmful across the board and instead of accepting the consequences that come with that, which is a rejection by the American people in the November 2026 election, he has decided to rig the 2026 election, and he is using Texas as the battleground,” said Cadore.

‘What we are seeing in the state capital from this Black woman is a protest in solidarity with the thousands of voices of Black and brown voters through gerrymandering, and it’s a refusal to accept it,” she told theGrio. Cadore added, “We are seeing a Black woman, the most disrespected person in America, stand up for American democracy by putting herself on the line.”