Cartel Drones Ground El Paso in First Shutdown Since 9/11

For about six hours overnight, America’s busiest land-border crossing lost its airport — and nobody in El Paso could get a straight answer about why. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Latin American affairs and financial news.

The FAA grounded all flights late Tuesday, designating the airspace as “national defense airspace” and warning that the government “may use deadly force” against non-compliant aircraft. The restriction also covered nearby Santa Teresa in New Mexico and was initially set for 10 days — without precedent for a single U.S. airport since 9/11.

By Wednesday morning, it was over. The FAA lifted the closure, saying there was no threat to commercial aviation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA and the Defense Department had “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion” and that the threat was “neutralized.”

Administration officials told multiple outlets that Mexican cartel drones had breached U.S. airspace and the military disabled them.

But sources briefed by the FAA offered a different story: the Defense Department had been operating its own counter-cartel drones from adjacent Biggs Army Airfield without sharing flight paths with the FAA, forcing the agency to shut the airspace down.

Border Security Scare Shuts Airport

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson was furious. He said the closure threw the airport into chaos, diverted medical flights to Las Cruces — over 40 miles away — and blocked a shipment of surgical equipment from Dallas.

Neither the city nor local hospitals received advance notice. Congresswoman Veronica Escobar said the information from the administration “does not add up.”

From Mexico City, President Claudia Sheinbaum offered a flat denial. Her government has no information about cartel drones at the border, she said, adding that Mexican airspace was never closed.

The incident coincides with a meeting Wednesday between Mexican defense officials and U.S. Northern Command — and a broader backdrop of Trump administration threats to deploy military force against cartels on Mexican soil.

The airport sits beside Biggs Army Airfield and across the border from Ciudad Juárez, handling about 100 flights daily. FlightAware reported 14 cancellations and 13 delays.

For a city built on cross-border movement, even a few hours of shutdown exposed how fragile the coordination between military operations and civilian aviation remains.

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