Updated June 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM AKDT
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina wants to take "every last federal dollar from cities who choose mob rule over law and order" through a bill she introduced this week in response to protests against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.
"If you're a city that sides with rioters or defunds the police or rejects help from the administration, those are the contours that you use to define lawlessness," Mace told Morning Edition.
Los Angeles spent another night with a curfew in part of the city, though it's been quieter than in recent days when people began to protest ramped up immigration enforcement in the city and surrounding areas. In a swift response to the protests, Trump signed a memorandum and deployed thousands of National Guard troops — and the Marines — to LA to protect federal facilities, ICE and other U.S. government personnel, the administration said.
Protests have spread to other cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress the administration wants to be prepared to send the National Guard elsewhere, if needed.
Trump sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles without the approval of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in response.
"It's an illegal act. It's immoral," Newsom told All Things Considered. "It's also unconstitutional, and the mobilization order that was sent to the guard has a statute that requires that it shall be issued through the governors of the states."
Mace's bill, the Lawless Cities Accountability Act, co-introduced this week by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, would block federal funding — including salaries and grants — for local officials in cities deemed "lawless" due to ongoing unrest or failure to enforce laws. It would also give the federal government, likely the U.S. attorney general and the administration, authority to determine which cities are considered "lawless."
Mace spoke to NPR's Steve Inskeep about her bill and the ongoing protests in Los Angeles.
The following exchange has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview Highlights
Steve Inskeep: So I've read your proposal. The idea is to cut funding for 180 days, six months or so, if a city or state blocks police from stopping riots or defunds law enforcement or rejects federal assistance during widespread violence. Why would that be needed?
Rep. Nancy Mace: I think we all saw the images in LA this weekend and we saw Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, you know, deny what was happening. And you saw people burning cars in the streets, attacking law enforcement. There was a dead body in the street during massive looting in L.A., sort of like the riots a few years ago, where these Antifa folks or Black Lives Matter were trying to burn cities down. We just can't have this kind of lawlessness. We have to be a country of laws. People have to follow the law.
Note: Los Angeles Police found a man's body early Tuesday morning in an area where protests occurred, but did not say whether the man's death was related to the protests or the looting of a store nearby, according to local TV news station KTLA.
Inskeep: Just so we're clear, we did have some burned cars and so forth. Los Angeles authorities argued that they were on this and the police were in the streets. Does Los Angeles, then, in your opinion, qualify as a lawless city that should have had its funding cut?
Mace: Last weekend if it had continued, I would say yes, but it seems like in the footage from the last 24 to 48 hours, things have calmed down. It is a protest, not a violent riot. And they don't seem to be attacking or killing anyone right now or burning things, and that's the way that it should be if you want to protest. You can't be violent in the streets and harm other people or their property, including their cars. And I don't care if it was one car or 100 cars, it's still wrong and it's still violence.
Note: No deaths have been reported in relation to this week's protests in LA, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Inskeep: You're essentially saying the attorney general would decide a city is lawless or a state is lawless. Effectively, then the president or the president's administration decides that someone is lawless. Would they alone get to decide what that word means?
Mace: Yeah, pretty much. I mean, we have the contours of it in the bill. So like if you're a city that sides with rioters or defunds the police or rejects help from the administration, those are the contours that you use to define lawlessness. But, you know, we just can't have this where, you know, there's violence in the streets. They are accepting it as a peaceful protest when it's not and people are getting harmed or their property is. We need to have tools in the toolbox to be able to say to these cities, no more. This needs to stop.
Inskeep: You probably know that the president has been accused of lawlessness. A fair number of judges, including his own appointees, have ruled against him for closing agencies that Congress had approved, firing people without notifying Congress as the law required, failing to give due process, on and on. Do you think that oversight is needed in that case?
Mace: I don't think he can fire enough people, quite frankly. There are people in the administration and in these agencies and departments who are trying to block his agenda and what he's trying to do, including his executive orders. I would not define — He has not supported violent riots and isn't defunding the police and wants to help the people of California. So I don't consider him lawless.
Inskeep: You don't think that anything that he has done is beyond his authority as president?
Mace: I support Donald Trump 100%. I don't think he can do enough. I think he needs to do more.
Obed Manuel edited the digital version.
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