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Homelessness in California is a national security problem, too

17 0
02.08.2026

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Homelessness in California is a national security problem, too

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Angelenos were rightly alarmed to learn last month that the number of homeless people is rising again. But the reality is even worse. Homelessness is no longer just a local issue. It is a national security problem.

A significant number of the people living in tents on California’s sidewalks are not there because they lost a paycheck. They are there because they are addicted to a chemical weapon manufactured in China, smuggled through Mexico by cartels the United States has now designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and delivered through the same California ports and highways that carry the rest of our economy.

The state’s own data tell the story. Overdose is now the leading cause of death for unhoused Californians. In San Francisco, fentanyl is present in the majority of overdose deaths on the street. 

LA County Public Health reports the same. Behavioral health surveys consistently find roughly one in three unhoused Californians admits to regular illicit drug use, and independent researchers put the real number significantly higher when methamphetamine and fentanyl are counted together.

Where do the drugs come from?

They come from China. Chinese chemical companies in Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Shandong manufacture the precursor chemicals that Mexican cartels cook into finished fentanyl. 

The State Department sanctioned Guangzhou Tengyue Chemical last September and accused Beijing of “actively sustaining and expanding the business of poisoning our communities.” 

That is the U.S. government formally........

© New York Post