Blog

A Southern California mayor is facing a wave of outrage after doubling down on a proposal to eliminate his city's homeless population by giving them "all the fentanyl they want" and calling for a federal "purge."

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris suggested giving the homeless fentanyl to fix the unhoused crisis. AP

"What I want to do is give them free fentanyl," said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, a Republican who has led the high desert city since 2008, during a Feb. 25 city council meeting when a local resident objected to the city's controversial plan to house the homeless on the site of an abandoned golf course.

 “I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to give them all the fentanyl they want." Parris continued.

The stunned resident fired back, telling the mayor that his comments were “not kind.”

But Parris hasn’t backed down.

In a follow-up interview with FOX LA on Friday, he said he had no regrets and clarified that his comments were aimed at a subset of the unhoused population he claims are hardened criminals.

“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,” Parris told the outlet. “They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders.”

He offered no data to support the explosive claims but insisted “there’s nothing that we can do for these people.”

Parris argued that no one should take his fentanyl comment “literally,” claiming the deadly opioid is already “so easy” to obtain on the streets that city-sponsored distribution wouldn’t make a difference.

He then praised Lancaster’s homeless response as the most “innovative” in the country—before urging President Trump to allow a national “purge.”

“Quite frankly, I wish that the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people,” he said.

“Now, is it harsh? Of course, it is harsh. But it’s my obligation as the mayor of the city of Lancaster to protect the hardworking families that live there, and I am no longer able to do it,” Parris continued. “It’s an untenable situation and I’m open to any solution … I want these people out of our city.”

Parris, no stranger to controversy—he once made headlines in 2018 for wanting to ban neckties in the workplace—has since become the target of a budding recall campaign.

Johnathon Ervin, a Democrat who lost to Parris in the last mayoral race, told the Los Angeles Times that his former opponent is “unfit to hold public office.”

“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,” Ervin said.

As of Sunday night, the online petition to recall Parris had gathered just 6% of the 20,000 signatures needed to move forward.

Parris’s term runs through April 2028.