Austin, Texas ? Fifty-one fugitive Democratic lawmakers declared victory Thursday in their scheme to scuttle a GOP redistricting effort and prepared to return from self-imposed exile in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, the federal Department of Homeland Security said it was drawn into the four-day standoff when a Texas law officer indicated that a plane carrying Democrats had run into trouble and might have crashed.

The telephone call to Homeland Security was placed Monday, at a time Texas Republicans were desperately seeking the Democrats’ whereabouts.

Fifty-one Democrats set up makeshift offices in Ardmore, Okla., in protest of the redistricting bill. Thursday, they said their mission was accomplished.

After Thursday, according to the Legislature’s rules, the only measures the House can consider without a two-thirds vote will be Senate bills. The Senate redistricting plan appeared unlikely to pass.

“House redistricting dies with all the other House bills tonight,” Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick said.