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As rumored raids fuel anxiety about mass deportations, outlets are offering resources and debunking falsehoods

After immigration authorities targeted agricultural laborers in a surprise raid in California’s Kern county this year, fear-induced rumors circulated in communities around the state.

In San Francisco, a middle school student mistakenly reported seeing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agent board a transit bus, prompting the city’s school board to broadcast – and later retract – a warning to parents. In Oakland, an attorney published a post on Instagram alleging raids were occurring around the Bay Area. And in the Central valley, a medical clinic serving migrant farm workers saw patient numbers drop after rumors claimed Ice agents were targeting its patients.

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Fridays for Future organiser warns conspiracy theories are increasingly taking hold despite effects of global heating

The rise in extreme weather is not generating political support for climate action, Germany’s best-known climate activist has warned, as conspiracy theories increasingly circle after disasters made worse by global heating.

“Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”

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More voters think tech tycoon’s comments on grooming gangs are unhelpful than those who back him

More than half of voters think Elon Musk is having a negative effect on British politics following his criticism of Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The South African-born billionaire has spent much of the past week using his social media platform X to attack Starmer and the Labour government for their opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs. He accused Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, of being a “rape genocide apologist” and falsely claimed Starmer was “deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes”. Despite strong suggestions that Musk is preparing to make a large donation to Reform UK, he also recently tore into Nigel Farage, saying he was not up to the job of leading the party.

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