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 according to a fact-check in USA Today, the real story was much more benign:
The post mischaracterizes two incidents involving migrants who approached school buses at stops on their routes. There were no hijackings attempted, and authorities said no crimes were committed and no one forcefully attempted to stop or enter the vehicles.
A spokesperson for the East County Sheriff's office told The San Diego Union-Tribune the incident may have been a simple misunderstanding.
“Sheriff’s deputies determined that no one forcefully tried to stop or enter the school buses, therefore no crime was committed,” sheriff’s spokesperson Kimberly King said Thursday. “It is not uncommon for community volunteers and charitable organizations to provide resources in these parts of the county, some of which operate vehicles similar to school buses.”
Authorities said several of the people involved were taken into custody without incident and were being processed for...
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