{"id":161729,"date":"2026-02-12T15:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T15:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161729\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T15:48:13","slug":"caught-by-surprise-el-paso-officials-criticize-feds-for-airspace-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161729\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Caught By Surprise’: El Paso Officials Criticize Feds For Airspace Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local officials in El Paso remain perplexed about the sudden closure of airspace near the southern border on Wednesday, with one local lawmaker telling\u00a0Military.com<\/a> that the situation \u201ccaught everyone by surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials in the city located in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border want answers and more information from the federal government after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suddenly closed local airspace early on Feb. 11<\/a> for\u00a0\u201cspecial security reasons.\u201d The situation caused confusion for officials, pilots and air traffic controllers in the area.<\/p>\n

The 10-day Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) originally said to last until Feb. 21 still has not been fully explained, with the closure lasting a few short hours before multiple federal agencies said threats had been averted. A Trump administration official told\u00a0Military.com<\/a> on Wednesday, following the lifting of the NOTAM, that the reasoning for closure was due to Mexican cartel drones breaching U.S. airspace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Security forces install barbed wire along the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, near El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo\/Christian Chavez)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of War took action to disable the drones,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

That message was reiterated by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, though critics question why a NOTAM\u2014and a lengthy one at that in a populous area\u2014occurred in the first place, as drone activity in cities like El Paso or San Diego to the West are routine.<\/p>\n

‘Not Planned In Advance’<\/p>\n

When the closure was first announced, statements circulated on social media that were attributed to El Paso councilman\u00a0Chris Canales expressed the lack of information he and fellow city representatives received about the situation.<\/p>\n

Canales, who represents District 8, confirmed to Military.com that the statements were initially posted on his Reddit account and shared on other platforms like X. He was providing broader updates to individuals inside and outside the border community due to shared bewilderment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

People stand in line at check-in counters at El Paso International Airport, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo\/Morgan Lee)<\/p>\n

\u201cI unfortunately cannot explain in detail what led to the airspace closure,\u201d Canales told\u00a0Military.com<\/a>. \u201cTo my knowledge, the only explanation we have is what the FAA and DoD have said publicly, which did not go into much detail. They did not communicate directly with the City of El Paso at all during the entire situation to explain their decisions, and still have not done so.”<\/p>\n

This was not planned in advance, and it seemingly caught everyone by surprise\u2014including the air traffic controllers in the tower, passenger and cargo carriers, local government entities and elected officials, and airport management.<\/p>\n

‘Chaos and Confusion’<\/p>\n

El Paso\u00a0Mayor Renard Johnson conducted a press briefing on Wednesday, discussing the situation and its origins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unnecessary decision has caused chaos and confusion in the El Paso community,” Johnson said. “I want to be very, very clear that this should have never happened.”<\/p>\n

You 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. These types of decisions have consequences.<\/p>\n

Medical evacuation flights were diverted during the ordeal, the mayor said, while all aviation flights including of the emergency variety were grounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a major and unnecessary disruption\u2014one that has not occurred since 9\/11,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Johnson declined to answer additional questions from\u00a0Military.com<\/a>, instead deferring to the press briefing.<\/p>\n

Explanation Wanted But Not Delivered<\/p>\n

Canales said the jury essentially remains out on whether the Trump administration\u2019s reasoning for the closure is adequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s either true or not true, and we don\u2019t immediately have the ability to verify it,\u201d Canales said. \u201cI hope that we will get a concrete answer because our constituents deserve\u00a0a clearer understanding of what happened, who made what decisions, and how\/if their safety was safeguarded<\/a> or put at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefano Ritondale, a former U.S. Army officer who previously spent time at the border instructing counter-cartel operations, told\u00a0Military.com<\/a> on Wednesday that the situation was a \u201cbreakdown\u201d that happened due to \u201csloppiness\u201d in inter-agency communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this was just a\u00a0cluster of mistakes where they felt like the helicopter’s pilots or like whatever assets were flying felt threatened,\u201d Ritondale said. \u201cThey took a drastic response to address it without properly communicating across the chain of, hey, this has broad implications because if you look at the airport, it’s not away from the city; it\u2019s smack dab in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local officials in El Paso remain perplexed about the sudden closure of airspace near the southern border on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-161729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161729","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=161729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}