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 removal proceedings. So, not only was there no crime committed, but the immigration process appears to be working as designed in this case. Certainly not the fearsome scenario suggested on social media.
A similar hysteria also erupted among conservatives online — including Musk, Fox News and Donald Trump — over an incident in Aurora, Colorado, in late August. Those posts showed video footage of armed men at an apartment complex along with claims that it had been taken over by Venezuelan gangs. Trump went as far as baselessly claiming Venezuelans had taken over “parts of the city.”
But the story being pushed by Republicans isn’t backed up by evidence, according to the interim police chief in Aurora, Heather Morris.
On Friday, she said: “We’ve been talking to the residents here and learning from them to find out what exactly is going on. And there’s definitely a different picture. I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community, but what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this 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.” The city of Aurora made a similar statement on social media last Friday. “It is tragic that select individuals and entities have mischaracterized our city based on isolated incidents,” a tweet read. “We encourage you to build up our community and not allow the hysteria of others to tear it down.”
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. Recommended
