US Speaker suggests withholding disaster aid over California immigration policies
The US Speaker of the House of Representatives has suggested disaster aid for California might be withheld over the state's policies on immigration.
Vast swaths of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas have been destroyed by wildfires, leaving thousands of people homeless.
But Speaker Mike Johnson has floated making federal aid conditional.
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Mike Johnson has suggested California shouldn't get any disaster aid unless it changes its policies on immigration. AP
Johnson was questioned by Fox News host Sean Hannity on the issue.
"Are you saying that California, if they continue to aid and abet lawbreaking and harbouring illegal immigrants, money from DC gets cut off?" Hannity asked.
"Yeah, we're talking about conditions to this disaster aid," Johnson replied.
"There are natural disasters, but there are man-made disasters as well.
"And they made terrible decisions, you know? They knew exactly what they were doing."
Los Angeles is considered a "sanctuary city", a municipality which does not co-operate with the federal government in enforcing immigration law.
Sanctuary cities have long been a point of contention between the two major parties in the US.
READ MORE: Mass evacuations ordered as fresh fires threaten LA
Donald Trump and Mike Johnson both are deeply invested in mass deportation of migrants. AP
California Democratic representative Ami Bera called conditional aid for disasters a "dangerous precedent".
"We're all Americans," Bera said.
"When Louisiana suffers a catastrophe, or what we saw in North Carolina, South Carolina, we should all come together as a nation and support those citizens who were affected."
The comments come as wildfires began to rage again north of Los Angeles.
Twenty-thousand people were ordered to evacuate about 60km from the Eaton and Palisades fires that tore through Californian communities earlier this month.
Donald Trump has been in a war of words with California Governor Gavin Newsom during the wildfires.
Newsom took particular umbrage at Trump's claim in his inaugural address that "fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defence".
"It's nonsense. But it's also insulting," Newsom said.
"The bravery and heroism of firefighters from across California, the United States, and even across North America — saved a tragic wildfire from becoming something absolutely unimaginable for many more families."
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