Police in California and Colorado have rebutted two viral stories about immigrants that were spread by right-wing social media accounts in a sign of desperation in the final weeks before the November election.
Several conservative social-media influencers, including X owner Elon Musk, shared a false story last week alleging that “illegal aliens” tried to “hijack” some California school buses on Aug. 27 and 28, in a part of San Diego just 3 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The bogus story got ample coverage on Fox News, as well.
But, neither happened the way RW media and Mars Boi claimed. According to Politifact:
- On Aug. 27 and Aug. 28, groups of people approached Jamul-Dulzura Union School District buses on Highway 94 in San Diego County. The area is near the San Diego-Mexico border and migrants, including many asylum seekers, often are served by humanitarian groups while they await processing by immigration officials, a local newspaper reported.
- The school district’s superintendent, the local county sheriff’s office and local news reports said there was no attempted school bus hijacking.
- The sheriff’s office said no crime was committed and the superintendent said the bus was “neither stormed nor hijacked,” and no threats were made.
Police deny Venezuela gang has taken over rundown apartment complex in Denver suburb:
Police in the Denver suburb of Aurora say a Venezuela street gang with a small presence in the city has not taken over a rundown apartment complex — yet the allegation continues to gain steam among conservatives and was amplified by former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday Fox News town hall where he said Venezuelans were “taking over the whole town.”
The unsubstantiated allegation gained momentum following last month’s dissemination of video from a resident in the complex that showed armed men knocking on an apartment door, intensifying fears the Tren de Aragua gang was in control of the six-building complex.
Aurora’s mayor, Mike Coffman, a Republican, accompanied police on a sweep of the buildings alleged to have been overrun with gang violence and reported finding no one with an outstanding warrant, he said Monday. That revelation came after Coffman had claimed certain buildings had, in fact, been affected by crimes committed by Venezuelan people — not necessarily gangs — although he said the right-wing claims fueled “hysteria.”
