GOP-led court orders activist's arrest after profane rebuke of voting curbs

A Fort Worth activist who cursed out the Republican-majority Tarrant County Commissioners Court over a plan to gut polling sites was arrested in the middle of the night.

Efrin "EJ" Carrion, a Fort Worth activist and host of the 817 Podcast, was booked into Tarrant County Jail early Wednesday on a charge of disrupting a meeting. It is a Class B misdemeanor, meaning a low-level criminal offense.

The arrest came eight days after Carrion was ejected from the Aug. 4 Commissioners Court session, according to the Star-Telegram.

At that meeting, commissioners were weighing a proposal to cut Election Day polling sites from 316 to 176 — a nearly 45% reduction — ahead of the November midterms, The Shorthorn reported.

The plan would also have reduced early voting sites from 50 to 42, the outlet reported.

Carrion had signed up for public comment and took the lectern during the debate, where he told the court the fight was far from over.

"So I wanna let everyone know this is a win-win. Alright? A win if they don't vote for this, so we make our lives easier to vote. A win? We still have a historic November election," Carrion told the court.

He then turned his fire on Commissioner Matt Krause, a Republican, and the court's online defenders.

"You guys are so desperate that Matt Krause is picking in his bucket down Truth Social, Rumble and just saying, socialism, authoritarianism. Y'all come and help us, please," Carrion said.

Then Carrion addressed Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a Republican, directly.

"And Manny [Ramirez], you said you're all about cooling the temperature, and yet you vote for this extremist b——. All of your b——," Carrion said.

"Remove him immediately from the room," Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare, a Republican, ordered.

"I'm walking out, you small man," Carrion shot back.

"You have disrupted this meeting. We are now in recess," O'Hare said.

Carrion was the first of five people ejected from the meeting that day, the Star-Telegram reported.

Former Texas state Rep. Lon Burnam was also arrested after he picked up a microphone following orders to set it down, according to KERA News.

In January 2025, the Republican-majority Commissioners Court passed a decorum policy along party lines, giving sheriff's deputies the power to issue trespass warnings to anyone who violated meeting rules, the Star-Telegram reported.

"Free speech does not mean anyone can cause whatever chaos, say whatever foul-mouth thing, do whatever agitation, do whatever disrupting or campaign at a government business meeting," O'Hare said at a February meeting, according to the Star-Telegram.

The warrant for Carrion's arrest was issued Monday, Aug. 11 — a week after the meeting — when Fort Worth police pulled him over for a traffic stop, KERA News reported.

Fort Worth police discovered the outstanding warrant around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, KERA News reported.

His bond is set at $600, KERA News reported.