When the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closes the airspace over a major U.S. city for “special safety reasons,” Americans should pay attention.
On February 10, the FAA grounded flights to and from El Paso International Airport. The original notice referred to a ten-day flight restriction, but this was withdrawn the same day. Flights resumed. However, the questions remain.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy later stated that the FAA and the War Department had acted to address a cartel-related drone incursion and neutralize the threat before reopening airspace. No further operational details have been released.
Next reporting suggested the closure may have been precautionary and full operational details have not been made public.
Even without those details, the episode matters. It indicates that federal authorities have assessed drone activity as serious enough to impact civil aviation.
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Cartels adapt
For decades, Mexican drug trafficking organizations have transported illegal narcotics – including fentanyl – into the United States. Federal assessments consistently identify synthetic opioids as one of the deadliest threats facing American communities.
Cartels adapt as enforcement pressure changes. As land routes tighten and maritime interdiction increases, new methods emerge.
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In 2024, NORAD Commander General Gregory M. Guillot testified that more than 1,000 drone incidents occurred monthly along the southern border, mostly for surveillance or smuggling. If routine drone activity is tolerated along the border, federal officials concluded that the El Paso incident warranted halting operations at a major U.S. airport.
Commercial drone platforms are widely available and attractive to criminal organizations. They are cheap, difficult to detect and can carry a meaningful payload. Around the world, similar systems have migrated from recreational use to combat applications.
Its use by cartels is not speculative.
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What seems new is the decision to disrupt commercial aviation in response.
That raises an obvious question: was this an escalation of capability, proximity, or perceived threat? Without further disclosure, the public has no way of knowing.
The broader drone environment
Conflicts abroad have shown how low-cost unmanned systems can be adapted for surveillance, targeting and even kinetic missions. Non-state actors learn from these examples. Criminal organizations are no exception to this.
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None of this proves that armed cartel drones are operating over American cities. There is no public evidence of that. But the technological threshold continues to fall.
The airspace above the Southwest is no longer immune to innovation.
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A shift in American policy
The El Paso incident also fits within a broader change in the way Washington frames antitrust activities.
In January 2025, the Trump administration designated several major drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. That classification moved cartel networks beyond a purely criminal framework and into the category of national security.
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Federal agencies were tasked with applying structural pressure on cartelizers – financial systems, coordination networks, and international supply chains.
The FAA’s decision was not an isolated one. It happened within an attitude that views cartel activities as a cross-border security threat.
What El Paso’s closure tells us
Several conclusions follow.
First, federal authorities assessed an air threat serious enough to affect civil aviation.
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Second, the War Department was prepared to respond.
Third, public transparency remains limited. Members of Congress, including Representative Veronica Escobar, have noted that drone incursions along the border are not new. If this episode reflected a heightened or qualitatively different threat, that distinction should be clearly explained.
When civil airspace is limited, clarity strengthens public confidence.
Temporary closures of this magnitude should remain exceptional and not routine.
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Policy implications
Border airspace
The United States needs a defined border airspace doctrine. That includes sustained detection capability, streamlined counter-UAS authority for DHS and DoD near the border, and clear standards for when civilian airspace restrictions are warranted.
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Reactive shutdowns are not a strategy.
Deterrence
If drone attacks continue, interception alone will not be enough. Switching off individual aircraft addresses the symptom, not the network behind it. Financiers, suppliers and planners who enable these operations must face persistent financial, legal and diplomatic pressure.
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Deterrence requires credibility. The United States has both the authority and the obligation to defend its territory and airspace. Persistent air raids cannot be normalized.
Mexico continues to play a central role in a sustainable solution. Joint enforcement and intelligence cooperation are preferable to confrontation. But history shows that when cross-border threats harm Americans, the United States responds.
Cartels adapt as operating costs rise. The goal is to restore control before escalation becomes necessary.
The role of Mexico
Mexico’s cooperation is indispensable.
Public escalation does not benefit either country. Quiet coordination – shared intelligence, joint surveillance and coordinated efforts against drones – offers a more stable path. Quiet coordination, shared intelligence, joint surveillance, and coordinated efforts against drones offer a more stable path.
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At the same time, ongoing violations of U.S. airspace cannot be ignored. Bilateral security cooperation will deepen or come under pressure.
The strategic choice
El Paso’s closure may prove to be an isolated episode. It could also be the first visible sign that cartel operations have definitively expanded into the air domain.
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If criminal networks can explore U.S. airspace without consequence, they will continue to assess its boundaries.
The government now faces a choice: respond one incident at a time – or establish lasting control over the airspace along the southern border.
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The land boundary has dominated the debate for years. The airspace above may soon require just as much attention.
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