- In October 2025, after Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency, a claim circulated that the reason behind the declaration was that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids had exposed “tunnels, safe houses, and foreign-backed trafficking hubs” in the area.
- The claim appeared to come from an article on Gazetteller.com, an independent news website that takes article submissions from readers.
- According to that article, the Departments of Defense and Justice were assisting ICE in an investigation into an alleged “concealed logistics network” that used nonprofits and people without legal status in the U.S. for “dark money, globalist data tracking operations, and in some cases, organ harvesting.”Â
- ICE had reportedly discovered that network during its raids, leading the local government — Los Angeles County — to attempt to block further federal access through a state of emergency declaration, according to Gazetteller.com.
- Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsey P. Horvath and Janice Hahn, who co-introduced the state of emergency declaration, dismissed the article via email as “absurd.”
- Snopes could not independently verify Gazetteller.com’s claim. We reached out to the federal departments and agencies named in the article to ask if they could confirm the reported details and await a reply.
In October 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids exposed “tunnels, safe houses, and foreign-backed trafficking hubs” in the area.
Los Angeles County includes dozens of cities in southern California, the most populous of which is Los Angeles. County supervisors voted to declare a state of emergency on October 14, 2025, after ICE ramped up enforcement actions in June (archived).
Popular X and Facebook (archived) posts sharing the claim began with an all-caps headline, reading, “L.A. DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER TRUMP’S ICE RAIDS EXPOSE TUNNELS, SAFEHOUSES, AND FOREIGN-BACKED TRAFFICKING HUBS HIDDEN INSIDE SANCTUARY PROGRAMS”
Rocco Bianconi
L.A. DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER TRUMP’S ICE RAIDS EXPOSE TUNNELS, SAFEHOUSES, AND FOREIGN-BACKED TRAFFICKING HUBS HIDDEN INSIDE SANCTUARY PROGRAMS
Los Angeles is collapsing under the weight of what Trump’s forces just uncovered — a sanctuary system masking…
— Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) October 22, 2025
The claim also circulated on Instagram (archived) and Threads (archived). Snopes readers wrote in asking if the claim was true.
Los Angeles County’s state of emergency declaration did not mention ICE discoveries or the reported investigation. According to the declaration, the state of emergency was necessary because ICE raids had “created a climate of fear” that kept people affected by enforcement actions at home, leading to “long-term harm to workers, families, and businesses.”
The claim appeared to come from an article (archived) on Gazetteller.com that featured the same all-caps headline seen in online claims. Gazetteller.com is an independent news website that takes article submissions from readers. That article appeared to be the sole source of the claim, as searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo did not produce similar reports from other news outlets (archived, archived, archived, archived).
Gazetteller.com’s article claimed that ICE raids had “exposed tunnels, safe houses, and foreign-backed trafficking hubs” inside “sanctuary programs.” According to Gazetteller.com, the Departments of Defense and Justice were assisting ICE in an investigation into an alleged “concealed network” that used nonprofits and people without legal status in the U.S. for “dark money, globalist data tracking operations, and in some cases, organ harvesting.”Â
The article’s central claim was that the real reason why Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency was to attempt to keep federal agents out after the discovery of the alleged “concealed logistics network.” Snopes could not independently verify this claim. Therefore, we leave this story unrated.
Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsey P. Horvath and Janice Hahn, who co-introduced the state of emergency declaration, told Snopes via email: “This is absurd. There is not one iota of truth to this. What is true is ICE is terrorizing our communities and ripping law abiding people from their workplaces and their families.”
We reached out to ICE and the Departments of Defense and Justice to ask if they could confirm the details in Gazetteller.com’s article and await replies to our queries. We also reached out to Gazetteler.com to ask what sources they used for the article and await a reply.
LA County declaration a response to ‘climate of fear’
Though Gazetteller.com claimed it was ICE’s alleged discoveries that prompted the state of emergency declaration, Los Angeles County’s declaration said it was the effects of the raids on the local population that drove the county to act.
Los Angeles County wrote in its state of emergency declaration:
Enforcement actions and tactics have created a climate of fear, leading to widespread disruption in daily life and adverse impacts to our regional economy due to decreased attendance at workplaces, the temporary or permanent closure of businesses and restaurants, and increased strain on our local institutions such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship
Horvath, who co-proposed the declaration, said it would allow the county to “protect and stabilize” communities affected by ICE actions.
In practice, the declaration allowed officials to seek financial assistance and mutual aid outside the county to support people affected by ICE’s enforcement action. That could mean assisting them financially or with free legal aid. The declaration allowed the county to expedite hiring, contracting and procurement to achieve this.
The declaration did not mention any of the alleged ICE discoveries that Gazetteller.com reported. The website’s article referenced “internal reports” that said Los Angeles County was using the declaration to block federal oversight. Snopes could not independently find or verify these reports.
DHS and ICE websites mum about alleged discoveries
At the time of this writing, neither the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nor ICE had publicly confirmed any details from Gazetteller.com’s article.
ICE ramped up activity in the city of Los Angeles starting June 6, according to Mayor Karen Bass. ICE said on June 7 that agents arrested 118 people without legal status in the U.S. in Los Angeles that week. That number was up to 5,000 arrests by late August.
Searches on the DHS and ICE websites and social media for news about tunnels in Los Angeles produced no results. DHS, ICE and other government departments do not publish information about all their work online and might withhold discoveries connected to ongoing investigations.Â
In sum, Snopes could not independently verify the central claim in Gazeteller.com’s article. We await replies from several departments and agencies to queries about the details in the article, which two Los Angeles County supervisors dismissed as “absurd.”
Los Angeles County’s state of emergency declaration remained in place at the time of this writing and could only be lifted by the Board of Supervisors. ICE and DHS enforcement actions also continued in Los Angeles and across the country despite the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
Sources
Canavan, Will. “Board Proclaims an Immigration Emergency in Los Angeles County.” Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, 15 Oct. 2025, https://lindseyhorvath.lacounty.gov/immigration-emergency-declaration/.
Despite Riots and Assaults, ICE and Border Patrol Arrest Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Rapists, Gang Members, Murderers, and Pedophiles in Los Angeles | Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/08/27/despite-riots-and-assaults-ice-and-border-patrol-arrest-worst-worst-criminal. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
DHS Releases Statement on Violent Rioters Assaulting ICE Officers in Los Angeles, CA and Calls on Democrat Politicians to Tone Down Dangerous Rhetoric About ICE | Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/07/dhs-releases-statement-violent-rioters-assaulting-ice-officers-los-angeles-ca-and. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
ICE Arrests the Worst of the Worst: Child Sexual Predators, Murderers, and Thieves | Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/10/24/ice-arrests-worst-worst-child-sexual-predators-murderers-and-thieves. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
“L.A. DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER TRUMP’S ICE RAIDS EXPOSE TUNNELS, SAFEHOUSES, AND FOREIGN-BACKED TRAFFICKING HUBS HIDDEN INSIDE SANCTUARY PROGRAMS!” Gazetteller.Com, 23 Oct. 2025, https://gazetteller.com/l-a-declares-state-of-emergency-after-trumps-ice-raids-expose-tunnels-safehouses-and-foreign-backed-trafficking-hubs-hidden-inside-sanctuary-programs/.
“What Does LA’s Emergency Declaration on the ICE Raids Mean?” LAist, 15 Oct. 2025, https://laist.com/news/politics/what-does-las-emergency-declaration-on-the-ice-raids-mean.
X, et al. “L.A. County Declares State of Emergency to Fight against ICE Immigration Raids.” Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2025, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-15/l-a-county-declares-state-of-emergency-to-fight-back-against-ice-immigration-raids.
YEN, EDWARD, et al. “Proclamation of Existence of a Local Emergency for Federal Immigration Actions in the County of Los Angeles.” Office of the County Counsel, 14 Oct. 2025, https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/208457.pdf.
