A Southern California mayor is underneath hearth for eager to get rid of his metropolis’s homeless inhabitants by giving them “all the fentanyl they want” — a surprising comment he strengthened by calling for a federal “purge.”
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris shared his controversial views throughout a Feb. 25 metropolis council assembly when a resident took difficulty with town’s try to deal with the homeless disaster by “enclosing” the unhoused at an deserted golf course close to a residential neighborhood.
“What I want to do is give them free fentanyl,” Parris mentioned as he interrupted the lady’s feedback, in keeping with footage of the assembly.
“I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to give them all the fentanyl they want.”
The jolted resident advised the Republican his assertion “was not kind.”
However Parris, who’s been mayor since 2008, has no “regrets” about wanting to provide homeless individuals the extremely addictive, and often-lethal, opioid, telling FOX LA in an interview Friday that he was referring to unhoused criminals who “refuse” to be helped.
“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 advised the outlet.
“They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders,” he added, with out providing proof or knowledge to help his claims. “There’s nothing that we can do for these people.”
Parris added that he didn’t suppose anybody would take his feedback “literally,” explaining that fentanyl is “so easy” to get on the streets that it wouldn’t have made a distinction if town gave it away at no cost.
He boasted Lancaster for offering extra “innovative” options to the homeless inhabitants than some other metropolis in America earlier than calling for a federal “purge.”
“Quite frankly, I wish that the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people,” Parris mentioned.
“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…It’s an untenable situation and I’m open to any solution…I want these people out of our city.”
Parris, who made headlines in 2018 for eager to ban neckties from the office, has since grow to be the goal of a recall marketing campaign, with political opponents outraged by his remarks.
Johnathon Ervin, a Democrat who misplaced to Parris within the metropolis’s mayoral election final 12 months, mentioned that his former opponent is unfit to carry public workplace.
“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 mentioned, the Los Angeles Occasions reported.
The net recall petition has solely acquired 6% of the 20,000 desired signatures, as of Sunday evening.
The embattled mayor’s time period expires in April 2028.
Parris didn’t instantly reply to The Publish’s request for remark.
