The White House blamed drone activity from Mexican drug cartels for the sudden closure of U.S. airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday morning.
In a statement to Newsweek the White House said: “Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones.
“The FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel.”
Restrictions set earlier by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have been lifted and authorities said flights would resume as normal from Wednesday.
“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal,” the FAA said on its X account.
Democratic Representative Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, also said on X that she understood there was “no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”
Why Did El Paso International Airport Close?
Earlier, the FAA had shut El Paso’s airsprace with a sudden Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued due to “special security reasons”. The FAA had said the closure would go on for 10 days.
Flights to and from El Paso International Airport were immediately halted under the order, which also covered a large patch of southern New Mexico, west of Santa Teresa.
The FAA had applied “NTL defense airspace” considerations, warning that pilots who do not adhere to the order may be “intercepted, detained, and interviewed by law enforcement/security personnel.”
The suddenness of the NOTAM had sparked speculation given that it did not specify what the special security reasons were.
“We’re all trying to work out why this crazy NOTAM was issued by the FAA,” an El Paso city representative, Chris Canales, had written in a post on his Reddit profile. “Nobody local got advance notice—neither civilian nor military leadership.”
What We Know About The Cartel Drone Violations
Reuters reported that the flight ban had been linked to the Pentagon’s use of counter-drone technology to tackle Mexican drug cartels’ drones on the U.S.-Mexico border.
A congressional official with knowledge of the matter told the outlet MS NOW the cause of the shutdown was due to a lack of communication between the Pentagon and FAA, which shut down the airspace because of concerns about DOD counter-drone activity.
El Paso is the headquarters for Fort Bliss, a major U.S. Army post. CNN had reported that the flight ban had been triggered by U.S. military activity at Biggs Army Airfield, located next to El Paso International Airport.
Robert Moore, the founder and CEO of news site El Paso Matters, told CNN that it was the first time since the terror attacks of 9/11 that such a closure had been ordered.
Vincent Perez, a Democrat who represents El Paso in the Texas House of Representatives, told The New York Times that the closure of American airspace for 10 days that was not a major emergency was unheard of.
El Paso International is served by Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. The airport has more than 1,300 departures scheduled for this month.
Following the notice on Wednesday morning, United waived change fees for customers while Southwest said it had contacted travelers affected by the closure.
What Are Mexican Cartel Drones?
The White House gave no further details about the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) it said breached U.S. airspace. However, there was a spike in Mexican cartel drone operations from five attacks in 2020 to 260 in 2023, with almost daily incidents in regions like Michoacán.
Cartels have dedicated drone units using commercial quadcopters modified to carry various payloads, including military-grade explosives, improvised bombs and chemical weapons containing aluminum phosphide and other toxic pesticides, Drone XL reported.
There has also been an escalation in the use by Mexican drug cartels of weaponized UAVs. These FPV (first-person view) drones range from crude bomb-dropping quadcopters to sophisticated attack drones.
Last April, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) conducted the first confirmed FPV drone attack in Mexico. Unlike traditional hover-and-drop drone attacks, FPV drones can detonate on contact, allowing precision targeting.
Cartels have also started to use sophisticated counter-UAS systems and Mexican authorities have formed specialized anti-bomb units but remain outmatched. This has implications for American border security, with U.S. officials reporting that cartels had conducted more than 27,000 drone flights within 1,500 feet of the southern border during the last six months of 2024, mostly at night.
Update 2/11/26, 11 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.
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