California mayor's remedy for homelessness: ‘Free fentanyl' and ‘a purge'

Miami Herald

20-04-2025

R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California, has ignited a controversy after musing during a council meeting that one approach to homelessness would be to "give them free fentanyl … all the fentanyl they want."
Parris, a larger-than-life trial lawyer, made the incendiary comments about the drug - responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths - during a February City Council meeting, in a retort to a resident who objected to his musings of congregating unhoused residents into an "encampment."
It wasn't until Parris doubled down on his remarks during an interview with Fox 11 LA that his statements went viral, provoking ire far beyond the high desert city, where he has presided as mayor since 2008.
He said that he didn't think anyone had taken his comments literally, but that he did not regret them. In the interview, he said he wished for "a purge" of homeless people.
"I made it very clear I was talking about the criminal element that were let out of the prisons that have now become 40 to 45% of what's referred to as the homeless population," he said. "They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders," he said, without providing evidence to back up those assertions.
He added: "Quite frankly, I wish the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people.
"Now, is it harsh? Of course it is harsh. But it is my obligation as the mayor of the city of Lancaster to protect the hardworking families that live here, and I am no longer able to do it. ... It's an untenable situation. ... I want these people out of our city."
Parris did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.
His political opponents say they are outraged.
"Anyone willing to give homeless people all the fentanyl they want, or to suggest that President Trump should allow a purge of the homeless population, has no business in public office," said Johnathan Ervin, a Democrat who challenged and lost to Parris in last year's mayoral election. Ervin has now banded together with the third-place winner in that contest, Mark Maldonado, to try to recall the mayor.
Parris has loomed over Lancaster for decades, first as a trial lawyer and civic leader and for the last 15 years as its mayor.
The city, which sits in the Mojave Desert in northern Los Angeles County, has a population of about 175,000.
According to figures from the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, reported in the Antelope Valley Press, there were 6,672 people experiencing homelessness in 2024, 1,989 more than in 2023. That includes the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as surrounding areas.
Lancaster residents have become accustomed to a mayor with proposals that are often grand, and sometimes quixotic.
In 2013, he made headlines when, in an effort to woo Chinese investment, he talked of opening a trade office in Beijing and building a Buddhist temple in his Mojave desert town.
In 2018, he was back in the news for a proposal to make neckties optional among workers in the city, citing studies that they diminish blood flow to the brain.
He's also long been a voice for law and order, and many in his city have taken a dim view of homelessness.
In 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California released a report alleging widespread abuse of homeless people in Lancaster. The ACLU contended that the city had created a "dragnet of criminalization" in which deputies and city code enforcement officers "regularly bulldoze encampments of unhoused people and order them to move by threat of citation."
At the time, Parris said the city had done more than its share to serve its homeless population. He also said he was "trying to create an environment where people who are disabled can thrive" and that he was "not going to just let people live wherever they want, camp where they want, extort money from people who are shopping."
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