Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday that the FBI had agreed to his request to help track down dozens of Democratic Texas state lawmakers who left the state to prevent a vote on a redistricting plan.

The activation of federal agents would create a standoff between the Trump administration and Democratic state leaders in Illinois, where many of the absent Texas Democrats have taken refuge.

But by midday Thursday, local law enforcement officials in Texas had not made any requests to the FBI for assistance, and there were no indications that the Justice Department or the bureau had yet gone to court to seek warrants to track the lawmakers, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Nor was the bureau expecting to take immediate action, although that could always change, the person said.

In text messages, FBI Director Kash Patel told Cornyn that the bureau would offer its assistance, according to two people briefed on the exchange.

“The reality is that all that he has said is that the FBI has been authorized to locate the House Democrats — nothing more,” Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, told reporters Thursday, accusing Cornyn of “a lot of grandstanding.”

Cornyn’s statement may well have been intended as an intimidation tactic, some Democrats said, but it was also issued with a political backdrop.

Locked in a tough Republican primary fight, Cornyn and his opponent, Texas’ hard-right attorney general, Ken Paxton, have been competing for days to look tough with the runaway Democrats.