Trump asks California authorities to require identification to deliver fire aid

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that California You will need to implement two key changes to access federal aid for post-fire reconstruction: require voter identification and modify its water management policy.

“I just want them to ask for an identification card to vote and for the water to be released. Then they will receive a lot of help from the United States,” Trump said during a visit to North Carolina, from where he will leave for Los Angeles to supervise the damage caused by the fires of recent weeks, ending the day in Las Vegas.

(Also read: Colombian migrant in the US narrates the fear of being raided: “We are surviving”
)

Trump has been criticizing the response to the fires by the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, one of the stars of the Democratic Party, for weeks, and this Friday Trump again repeated false claims about the state authorities, ensuring that “they did not allow the water to flow “.

Since the start of the fires on January 7, Trump has accused state authorities of wasting large amounts of water that, according to him, are sent to the Pacific Ocean instead of directed towards Los Angeles.

Trump falsely claims that the change in water flow is due to the state’s attempts to protect a tiny fish called the delta smelt, falsely suggesting that water could be diverted from Canada and that turning a valve would solve the problems. state water resources.

Hours after taking office again on Monday, Trump urged the administration to come up with a plan to get more water to the California Central Valley and densely populated cities in Southern California.

Donald Trump threatened California not to provide federal aid

In an interview on the conservative Fox network Wednesday, he threatened not to give California federal aid if its leaders don’t change the state’s water policy.

On the other hand, Trump’s demands on voter ID are part of a demand from sectors of the Republican Party who, for years, have sought to require a photo ID to vote, despite the fact that there is no national ID in the United States.

Republicans argue that the identification requirement is key to avoiding electoral fraud, while Democrats assure that this measure would reduce participation, especially among people with fewer economic resources, since the most common identification document is the driver’s license and not all citizens have it.

Currently, 36 states have laws that request or require some type of identification to vote at the polls.

The remaining 14 states, including California as well as the District of Columbia, use other methods to verify voter identity, such as signature matching, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

(Also read: Images of the immigration raids approved by the Trump administration in the US.
)