WASHINGTON (AP) — A Mexican cartel drone incursion prompted an hourslong closure of airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas that was lifted on Wednesday morning, the Trump administration said.
Just hours earlier, the Federal Aviation Administration had announced a 10-day closure grounding all flights to and from the airport.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the FAA and the Defense Department “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.” He said normal flights were resuming Wednesday morning, but did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.
The shutdown “for special security reasons” had been expected to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office referred questions to the FAA.
Steven Willoughby, the deputy director of the counter-drone program at the Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers in July that nearly every day cartels are using drones to try to bring drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border and surveil Border Patrol agents.
