A Texas state Democrat admitted to assaulting a Republican colleague after the Republican called ICE on illegal immigrant protesters Monday.

Matt Rinaldi, a Republican Texas state representative, claimed that his Democratic colleagues threatened and assaulted him when he called ICE on illegal immigrant protesters in the state capitol.

“Today, Representative Poncho Nevarez threatened my life on the House floor after I called ICE on several illegal immigrants who held signs in the gallery which said ‘I am illegal and here to stay.’ Several Democrats encouraged the protestors to disobey law enforcement,” Rinaldi wrote on Facebook.

Rinaldi also said that Representative Ramon Romero “physically assaulted” him and other Democrats were “held back by colleagues.” (RELATED: Democrats Attack Texas Republican After He Calls ICE On Illegal Protesters)

Nevarez admitted in an interview Tuesday morning that he “shoved around” Rinaldi.

“I did shove him around a little bit, I pushed him, because he needed to get out of there,” Nevarez said.

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“I got in his face and I put my hands on the guy,” he also said. “In another exchange, I said, ‘we need to take this outside because it shouldn’t get resolved here in front of all these people.'”

Nevarez said his colleagues heard Rinaldi say he was “going to put a bullet” in Nevarez’s head, but Rinaldi said in his statement that he made clear he would only use his gun in self defense.

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“He’s a racist. He’s a bad person,” Nevarez asserted. “We’re not going to allow people like that to get away with saying comments like that because they think nothing’s gonna happen to ’em.”

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