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Lancaster mayor Rex Paris sparked the controversy after meditated during a council meeting that one approach to homelessness was “give free fentanyl… giving them all the fentanyl they want.”
A larger-than-life trial lawyer, Paris made a crude comment during a city council meeting in February about the drug responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of overdose.
After doubled his statement in an interview with Fox 11 LA, his statement went viral, sparking anger far beyond High Desert City, which has served as mayor since 2008.
He said that no one literally thought he’d received his comments, but he didn’t regret them. In an interview, he said he wanted to “purge” homeless people.
Homeless camp in Lancaster. There, street people often face extreme heat.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“I made it very clear that I was talking about the crime elements that came out of prisons that have become 40-45% of what is called the homeless population,” he said. “They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least at least half of our murder,” he said.
He added:
“Is that tough now? It’s tough, of course. But protecting the hardworking families here is my duty as mayor of Lancaster, and I can no longer do that.
Paris did not respond to a request for comment from the Times.
His political opponents say they are furious.
“Nobody wants all fentanyl for homeless people or suggests that President Trump should allow purges for the homeless population, but doesn’t do business in public office,” said Jonathan Irvin, a Democrat who challenged Paris in last year’s mayoral election. Irvin is currently playing a band with the third-place winner of the contest, Mark Maldonado, and is trying to remember the mayor.
Paris has been close to Lancaster for decades. First as a trial lawyer and civic leader, and for the past 15 years as mayor.
The city in the Mojave Desert in northern Los Angeles County has a population of approximately 175,000 people.
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Earl figures reported in the Antelope Valley Press, 6,672 people experienced homelessness in 2024, 1,989 more than 2023.
Lancaster residents have become accustomed to the mayor with often grand and sometimes chucksorted suggestions.
In 2013, he made headlines when he spoke about opening a trade bureau in Beijing to plead for Chinese investment and building a Buddhist temple in the desert town of Mohab.
In 2018 he returned to the news for a proposal to make tie an option among workers in the city.
He has long been the voice of law and order, and much of his city has been a dim view of the homeless.
In 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California published a report alleging widespread abuse of homeless people in Lancaster. The ACLU allegedly claimed that the city had created a “crime dragnet,” and that deputies and city law enforcement officials “have regularly bulldoed the camps of immobility and ordered them to move by the threat of quotation.”
At the time, Paris said the city did more than its share to serve the homeless population. He also said, “We are trying to create an environment where people with disabilities can thrive,” and “we are not going to force money from people who live where they want, camp where they want and shop.”
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