cartel

WASHINGTON — The sudden and surprising airspace closure over El Paso, Texas, stemmed from the Pentagon’s plans to test a laser for use in shooting down drones used by Mexican drug cartels, according to three people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity to share sensitive details.

That caused friction with the Federal Aviation Administration, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety and the two agencies sought to coordinate, according to two of the people.

Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test it, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace. The laser was used at some point, one of the people said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that a response to an incursion by Mexican cartel drones had led to the airspace closure and that the threat had been neutralized. Drone incursions are not uncommon along the southern border.

Officials at the White House, FAA and Department of Transportation did not respond immediately Wednesday to request for comment about the dispute. The Pentagon said it had nothing to add to its statement that largely mirrored Duffy’s comment.

The FAA had originally announced a 10-day closure of the airspace, confusing travelers at the airport in the border city with a population of nearly 700,000 people. The order was lifted a few hours later. No Mexican airspace was closed.

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.” Duffy said normal flights were resuming Wednesday morning. He did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, said neither her office, the city of El Paso nor airport operations received advance notice. She said she believed the shutdown was not based on Mexican cartel drones in U.S. airspace, saying that “is not what we in Congress have been told.”

Pentagon officials declined to comment on Escobar’s remarks and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office referred questions to the FAA.

“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” Escobar said during a news conference. The shutdown had been expected to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area around El Paso.

“The information coming from the federal government does not add up,” Escobar said.

Cross-border drone activity is not new

Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district covers an area that stretches for about 800 miles along Texas’ border with Mexico, said cartel drone sightings are common.

“For any of us who live and work along the border, daily drone incursions by criminal organizations is everyday life for us. It’s a Wednesday for us,” Gonzales said.

Asked about the drone explanation provided by U.S. officials, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “no information about the use of drones on the border.” She noted that if U.S. authorities have more information they should contact Mexico’s government.

Steven Willoughby, the deputy director of the counter-drone program at the Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers in July that cartels are using drones nearly every day to transport drugs across the border and surveil Border Patrol agents.

More than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024, he testified, mostly at night. Homeland Security has said agents have seized thousands of pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl and other drugs in recent years that cartels were trying to fly across the border using drones.

Mexican officials head to Washington

El Paso is hub of cross-border commerce alongside Ciudad Juárez. The Mexican city is home to about 1.5 million people, and some of its residents are accustomed to taking advantage of facilities including airports on both sides of the border. That easy access to the U.S. has also made Juarez, like other border cities, attractive to Mexico’s drug cartels seeking to safeguard their smuggling routes for drugs and migrants headed north and cash and guns moving to the south.

El Paso International Airport said in an Instagram post after the closure was announced that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded through Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. Local newscasts showed stranded travelers with luggage lining up at airline ticket counters and car rental desks at the El Paso airport hours after flights were grounded.

The airport posted later Wednesday morning that its operations had resumed and encouraged travelers to contact their airlines for the most up-to-date flight information.

Mexican defense and navy secretaries planned to meet with Northern Command officials in Washington on Wednesday in a meeting scheduled to be attended by representatives of several other countries, Sheinbaum said during a news conference. Sheinbaum said the Mexican officials would “listen” in the meeting and that her government would look into “the exact causes” of the closure.

‘This was a major and unnecessary disruption’

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said at a news conference that he didn’t hear about the closure until after the alert was issued and he called the failure to communicate that to the city unacceptable.

“Decisions made without notice and coordination puts lives at risk and creates unnecessary danger and confusion,” Johnson said. “This was a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9/11.”

The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.

A similar 10-day temporary flight restriction for special security reasons remained in place Wednesday morning around Santa Teresa, N.M., which is about 15 miles northwest of the El Paso airport. FAA officials did not immediately explain why that restriction remained in place.

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, a Democrat, said in a statement: “Keeping our communities informed and safe is critical. I’m demanding answers from the FAA and the administration about why the airspace was closed in the first place without notifying appropriate officials, leaving travelers to deal with unnecessary chaos.”

Shutdown and restart creates confusion for travelers

The airspace closure upset travel plans on both sides of the border.

María Aracelia was pushing two roller suitcases across the pedestrian bridge from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso on Wednesday morning. She had a round-trip flight to Illinois scheduled for the afternoon.

After receiving a text at 4 a.m. telling her about the 10-day closure, she scrambled to try to find other options, even how to get to another airport. Then came a notification that the El Paso airport had reopened.

“This is stressful and there isn’t time to make so many changes, especially if you need to get back for work,” Aracelia said.

Kim, Finley, Jalonick and Lee write for the Associated Press. Lee reported from El Paso, Texas. AP writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Josh Funk in Omaha; Darlene Superville, Mike Balsamo and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H.; María Verza in Mexico City, and Christian Torres Chávez in Ciudad Juarez contributed to this report.

Drones operated by Mexican drug cartels flying across the border prompted a major clampdown in air traffic over El Paso, Texas, earlier today, a Trump administration official has told TWZ. The airspace restrictions appeared without warning and created still lingering confusion. Cross-border cartel drone operations are a chronic issue, and we have been calling attention to the growing dangers they pose for many years now.

New details can be found in an update at the bottom of this story.

“Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace. The Department of War [DOW] took action to disable the drones,” the administration official told us. “The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel.”

“The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has also said in a statement. “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”

“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted,” according to an earlier post from the official FAA account on X. “There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.”

Reuters had earlier reported that the FAA’s action was “tied to the Pentagon’s use of counterdrone technology to address Mexican drug cartels’ use of drones,” citing anonymous “airline sources.” Politico had also reported a link to counter-drone testing, citing an unnamed aviation industry source. Coordination problems between the FAA and the military may have created a disconnect. An unnamed U.S. official reportedly told The Atlantic that the “FAA reopened the air space after talking to officials at Fort Bliss,” as well. Fort Bliss lies adjacent to El Paso International Airport.

TWZ has reached out to the White House, the FAA, the Pentagon, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Fort Bliss, and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for more information about the circumstances surrounding the airspace closure.

The FAA had issued the temporary flight restrictions suddenly and without apparent warning to various federal, state, and local authorities, causing immense confusion, which is clearly continuing to a degree. The airspace closure centered on El Paso International Airport, and extended 10 miles in all directions and up to an altitude of 17,999 feet. This led to a ground stop at the airport and a total shutdown of air traffic within the affected zone, which was declared to be “national defense airspace.” Warnings that intruders could face the risk of deadly force if deemed to be an “imminent security threat,” as well as the possibility of being “intercepted, detained, and interviewed,” were issued. Even military, police, and medical evacuation aviation activities were impacted. The only explanation given initially for the airspace closure, which was originally slated to last 10 days, was unspecified “special security reasons.”

Similar airspace restrictions were also imposed overnight over an area around Santa Teresa, New Mexico, to the west of El Paso, the current status of which is unclear.

“We were just as surprised as anyone that the NOTAM was imposed and just as surprised that it was lifted,” U.S. Army Maj. Will McGehee, a spokesperson for the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, told TWZ this morning after the flight restrictions over El Paso were lifted. “We are trying to figure out what is going on and referring all calls to the FAA. We don’t have any information about why the FAA did this.”

In addition to the 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss is home to a significant portion of the Army’s air defense units, which are increasingly charged with the counter-drone mission. The base is also a major hub for border security operations, which the U.S. military often conducts in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, as well.

“From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas. There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations,” Veronica Escobar, the Democrat who currently represents the El Paso area in the House of Representatives, wrote earlier on X. “We have urged the FAA to immediately lift the Temporary Flight Restrictions placed on the El Paso area.”

“Nobody local got advance notice. And I mean nobody – neither civilian or military leadership,” El Paso City Councilmember Chris Canales also said, according to Blake Spendley (who goes by the handle @OSINTtechnical on X).

As noted, cross-border drone activity linked to Mexican drug cartels is not new and happens routinely, historically as a means of smuggling illicit narcotics. However, cartels in Mexico have been expanding their drone capabilities in recent years to include the use of weaponized commercial types. These are developments that TWZ highlights regularly, including in a detailed feature last year about the prospect of U.S military action against the cartels and the ramifications thereof, which you can find here.

“Drones crossed over but the reason why they used a counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS) was because they were extremely aggressive and put helicopters at risk,” Stefano Ritondale, chief intelligence officer for Artorias, an artificial intelligence-driven intelligence company specializing in cartel violence in Mexico, Latin American affairs, and trade/organized crime, told TWZ. “Drones cross over all the time.”

“Based on the area in which the TFRs are located and who we have seen operate in that area, the most likely culprit would be La Línea/Cartel de Juárez,” a spokesperson for a team of open source analysts with a focus on cartels & other non-state actors, who goes by the handle @natsecboogie on X, also told us. “We have documented some of their drone use along the border for smuggling.”

Last year, the U.S. military did announce the deployment of additional counter-drone capabilities as part of a larger buildup along the border with Mexico. This is known to have included radars and other sensors just to help better monitor for potential threats.

The action taken today also follows a string of announcements from the Pentagon recently about new authorities to respond to drone threats in the U.S. homeland. Last year, U.S. Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, head of NORTHCOM, had openly advocated for these authorities in part to address cartel drones along the southern border.

What happened today is evidence of the new counter-drone response mechanisms in place now. NORTHCOM has now established a rapidly deployable counter-drone capability, though it’s unclear if it was employed in this case. At least on the part of the U.S. military, the ability to decide to act seems to be much clearer-cut, in general. At the same time, what happened overnight underscores the importance of interagency coordination and communication, especially with the public and among stakeholders, which seems to still be sorely lacking.

General concerns about drone threats to the U.S. homeland, especially to military assets and other critical infrastructure, have been steadily building up for some time now, as well. This has included collisions and near-misses with U.S military aircraft flying over training ranges, as well as incidents involving U.S. naval forces offshore. Reported drone incursions over nuclear power plants and other facilities have spiked in recent years.

In many instances, drone concerns have become intertwined with claimed sightings of what are often now referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), or what used to be more commonly called unidentified flying objects (UFO).

Altogether, questions do still remain about what exactly prompted the airspace restrictions around El Paso today, but they do serve to underscore real concerns about drone threats that have been growing for some time.

Update: 1:55 PM EST –

CBS News and CNN have both now reported that a breakdown in coordination between the U.S. military and the FAA over the employment of a counter-drone system armed with a laser directed energy weapon contributed to the imposition of the flight restrictions around El Paso.

“Meetings were scheduled over safety impacts, but Pentagon officials wanted to test the technology sooner,” according to CBS News, citing multiple unnamed sources. “Airlines were also aware of the apparent impasse between the FAA and Pentagon officials over the issue because the Pentagon has been using Fort Bliss for anti-cartel drone operations without sharing information with the FAA.”

SCOOP: The unexpected airspace closure in El Paso stemmed from disagreements over drone-related tests, sources told @CBSNews. Pentagon had undertaken extensive planning on use of military tech near Fort Bliss. Two sources identified the technology as a high-energy laser.
Earlier…

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 11, 2026

“It’s unclear if the presence of [cartel] drones might have led to the acceleration of the deployment of the laser system,” per CNN‘s report, which also cites multiple anonymous sources.

CBS News‘ report also says the same “anti-drone technology was launched near the southern border to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones” earlier this week, but what was ultimately shot down “turned out to be a party balloon.” The story separately says that “one official said at least one cartel drone was successfully disabled,” but it is unclear when that engagement may have occurred.

Questions remain about the exact chain of events that led the FAA to impose the temporary flight restrictions around El Paso.

“The statement by the administration that this shutdown was linked to a Mexican cartel drone that came into US airspace — that is not my understanding,” Rep. Escobar said at a press conference today.

”What happened in El Paso last night is unacceptable,” Rick Larsen and Andre Carson, Democratic Party representatives from Washington State and Indiana, respectively, also said in a joint statement. ”While we’re not happy with the disruption, we commend the FAA for taking swift action to protect travelers and ensure the safety of U.S. airspace.”

Larsen and Carson both sit on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

“This chaotic outcome is the result of hamhanded language forced into the NDAA [the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill] by the White House that allowed the Pentagon to act recklessly in the public airspace,” their statement added. “We look forward to pursuing a bipartisan solution that strengthens interagency coordination and ensures that the Department of Defense will not jeopardize safety and disrupt the freedom to travel.”

Author’s note: The headline to this story was changed to reflect new information.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who allegedly became the head of a billion-dollar drug trafficking organization, pleaded not guilty to multiple charges against him Monday and was ordered detained as his case proceeds.

Wedding, who authorities say was in hiding for more than a decade and on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, was arrested last week. He faces 17 felonies in two separate indictments.

During the court hearing at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana, Wedding, who wore a beige jail uniform and black Crocs, scanned the gallery and occasionally smirked. Hulking and tattooed, the 6’3” Wedding towered over his attorney and the deputy marshals standing guard in the courtroom.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Early ordered Wedding jailed without bond and set the next hearing for February 11.

The judge set a tentative trial date in March, although Wedding’s attorney, Anthony Colombo, said it would likely take more time for the case to unfold.

Colombo did not argue for his client’s release on Monday afternoon, later citing “the whirlwind” Wedding had experienced since his apprehension.

“It takes time to put the sureties in place, to have the information for the court to establish that there’s a condition or combination of conditions that could secure his release,” Colombo told reporters. “We were not in the position today to do that and we anticipate addressing that at a later date.”

Colombo said he first met with his client several days ago, after his arrival in the U.S., and described him as being “in good spirits.” Colombo disputed claims from federal authorities that Wedding had been in hiding out in Mexico.

“Hiding out and living somewhere are two different things,” Colombo said. “I would characterize him as living, the government can characterize it their way.”

Colombo added that his client was arrested and “he did not surrender.”

Wedding, who was known by many aliases, including “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy,” is accused of becoming a major trafficker of cocaine into Canada and the United States and a ruthless leader who ordered killings, including one of a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case against him. The alleged order resulted in the victim being shot to death in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2025, prosecutors said.

The former Olympic snowboarder was charged in a 2024 indictment with running a continuing criminal enterprise, assorted drug trafficking charges and directing the murders of two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.

“Just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said in a news conference Friday announcing the arrest. “He is a modern-day El Chapo, he is a modern-day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could evade justice.”

When questioned about authorities likening his client to El Chapo and Pablo Escobar, Colombo said “I think it’s overstated, that’s their spin.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said last week that Wedding’s alleged global drug trafficking organization “used Los Angeles as its primary point of distribution.”

Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles FBI field office, said after Wedding’s capture that his alleged organization shipped approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine through Southern California on its way to Canada.

Authorities have arrested 36 people in connection with their role in the transnational organization and the U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned 19 people, including Wedding, according to Davis.

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi previously said Wedding’s operation was responsible for generating more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds.

Wedding competed for his home country, Canada, in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

An experienced attorney, Colombo previously represented Rubén Oseguera González, also known as “El Menchito,” the son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Oseguera González was sentenced last year to a term of life in prison plus 30 years to run consecutively for his role in a major drug trafficking conspiracy.