{"id":161495,"date":"2026-02-12T12:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161495\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:07:50","slug":"drone-use-at-center-of-el-paso-airspace-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161495\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone use at center of El Paso airspace shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Federal Aviation Administration reopened airspace over El Paso and part of southern New Mexico on Wednesday morning after shutting it down for a few hours overnight amid an announcement there would be no flights for 10 days. The White House now says the unusual closure was triggered by Mexican cartel drones breaching U.S. airspace \u2014 contradicting an industry source who said it was because of an impasse with the Department of Defense over the use of unmanned military aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal,\u201d the FAA shared on X.<\/p>\n

Before it was reversed, the unexplained notices late Tuesday closed airspace over El Paso and a large patch of southern New Mexico west of Santa Teresa for 10 days. El Paso International Airport was set to be closed to all flights, the city had said. The orders closed off all air travel in the affected area, which could cause massive disruption in the nation\u2019s 23rd-largest city.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cchaos\u201d on the ground, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should have never happened,\u201d Johnson said during a Wednesday morning press conference. \u201cYou cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership. That failure to communicate is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the closure, Johnson said a lot of surgical equipment destined for city hospitals didn\u2019t show up and an unspecified number of medical evacuation flights were also forced to divert to Las Cruces, New Mexico, more than 40 miles away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The El Paso International Airport reported 14 cancelled and 13 delayed flights Wednesday, according to FlightAware<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson said local officials are still trying to get a clear answer on why the closure happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to reach out to our state and federal partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the Commerce Committee chair, said Wednesday that he requested a classified briefing with FAA and military leaders to get further details.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are real security threats that the Department of War is rightly focused on addressing,\u201d Cruz said after a pre-scheduled briefing with FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. \u201cAt the same time, the FAA is rightly focused on ensuring safety in the airspace. And so, at this point, the details of what exactly occurred over El Paso are unclear.\u201d<\/p>\n

An industry official, who had been briefed on the matter by the FAA in a morning call and asked not to be identified, told the Tribune that the Defense Department has been operating unmanned aircraft, or drones, against drug cartel operations from a base near El Paso\u2019s airport without sharing information with the FAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to do with the FAA\u2019s inability to predict where [unmanned aircraft systems] might be flying,\u201d the official told the Tribune. \u201cThey have been operating outside the normal flight paths.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/a> reported that the surprise closure stemmed from the Pentagon allowing U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to use an anti-drone laser earlier this week, according to two people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity to share sensitive details. One source told the Associated Press the laser was deployed near Fort Bliss without coordination with the FAA.<\/p>\n

That caused friction with the FAA, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety, two people told The Associated Press. Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test the laser, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace, the sources said.<\/p>\n

Another source familiar with the shutdown said the defense operations had been going on for days, and that the military had made FAA officials aware of their plans.<\/p>\n

But a Trump official on Wednesday said the closure occurred because Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones, the official said, and both the FAA and the military have now determined there is no threat to commercial travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion,\u201d Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X, referring to the Department of War. \u201cThe threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar<\/a>, D-El Paso, who cast doubt on the administration\u2019s explanation, said in a social media post<\/a> there was an \u201calarming and unhelpful\u201d amount of misinformation around the closure, including from the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statement by the administration that this shutdown was linked to a Mexican cartel drone that came into US airspace \u2014 that is not my understanding,\u201d Escobar said at a Wednesday morning press conference.<\/p>\n

Escobar said the shutdown decision was made by the FAA in Washington, and that neither she, local officials in El Paso nor El Paso International Airport were notified by the agency. Escobar said she found out about the closure late Tuesday night from a member of the federal workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While she would not comment on whether or not drone activity factored into the closure, she noted that drone incursions are not unusual and have occurred for years. She said the FAA owes the public an explanation for the abrupt closure and reopening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe information coming from the administration does not add up, and it\u2019s not the information that I was able to gather overnight and this morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Top Democrats on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee blamed the White House and the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re not happy with the disruption, we commend the FAA for taking swift action to protect travelers and ensure the safety of U.S. airspace,\u201d Reps. Rick Larsen, D-Washington and Andr\u00e9 Carson, D-Indiana, said in a statement. \u201cThis chaotic outcome is the result of ham-handed language forced into the [National Defense Authorization Act] by the White House that allowed the Pentagon to act recklessly in the public airspace.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls<\/a>, R-Richmond, told Politico<\/a> that he spoke to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford Wednesday morning. Nehls, the chairman of the aviation subcommittee on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, said the panel plans to look into why the administrator shut down the airspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving effective communication could prevent little things like this from becoming an issue,\u201d Nehls said.<\/p>\n

Escobar said there was not a threat to El Paso, which is why the restriction was lifted so quickly.<\/p>\n

A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the airline resumed operations to and from the airport after the FAA lifted restrictions and customers should confirm their flight\u2019s status before flying.<\/p>\n

The Tribune was unable to immediately reach Fort Bliss officials for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,6748],"class_list":["post-161495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-well-b-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}