Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz reacts to brief FAA closure of El Paso airspace
A source told the Tribune that Defense Department drones spurred the announced closure, but the White House said unmanned craft were flown by Mexican cartels.
by Terri Langford, Gabby Birenbaum and Alex Nguyen
Feb. 11, 2026, 6:47 a.m. Central Updated: Feb. 11, 2026, 5:21 p.m. Central
A satellite image of El Paso International Airport, in El Paso, in this handout picture taken on February 6, 2026. The U.S. halted all flights to and from the airport on Feb. 10 for "special security reasons," according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS.
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The Federal Aviation Administration reopened airspace over El Paso and part of southern New Mexico on Wednesday morning after shutting it down for a few hours overnight amid an announcement there would be no flights for 10 days. The White House now says the unusual closure was triggered by Mexican cartel drones breaching U.S. airspace — contradicting an industry source who said it was because of an impasse with the Department of Defense over the use of unmanned military aircraft.
“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 shared on X.
Before it was reversed, the unexplained notices late Tuesday closed airspace over El Paso and a large patch of southern New Mexico west of Santa Teresa for 10 days. El Paso International Airport was set to be closed to all flights, the city had said. The orders closed off all air travel in the affected area, which could cause massive disruption in the nation’s 23rd-largest city.
It was “chaos” on the ground, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said.
“This should have never happened,” Johnson said during a Wednesday morning press conference. “You cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership. That failure to communicate is unacceptable.”
Because of the closure, Johnson said a lot of surgical equipment destined for city hospitals didn’t show up and an unspecified number of medical evacuation flights were also forced to divert to Las Cruces, New Mexico, more than 40 miles away.
The El Paso International Airport reported 14 cancelled and 13 delayed flights Wednesday, according to FlightAware.
Johnson said local officials are still trying to get a clear answer on why the closure happened.
“We’re going to continue to reach out to our state and federal partners,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the Commerce Committee chair, said Wednesday that he requested a classified briefing with FAA and military leaders to get further details.
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“There are real security threats that the Department of War is rightly focused on addressing,” Cruz said after a pre-scheduled briefing with FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “At the same time, the FAA is rightly focused on ensuring safety in the airspace. And so, at this point, the details of what exactly occurred over El Paso are unclear.”
An industry official, who had been briefed on the matter by the FAA in a morning call and asked not to be identified, told the Tribune that the Defense Department has been operating unmanned aircraft, or drones, against drug cartel operations from a base near El Paso’s airport without sharing information with the FAA.
“It has to do with the FAA’s inability to predict where [unmanned aircraft systems] might be flying,” the official told the Tribune. “They have been operating outside the normal flight paths.”
The Associated Press reported that the surprise closure 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 FAA, which wanted to ensure commercial air safety, two of the people told The Associated Press. Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test the laser, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace, the sources said. It was not clear whether the laser was ultimately deployed.
Another source familiar with the shutdown said the defense operations had been going on for days, and that the military had made FAA officials aware of their plans.
But a Trump official on Wednesday said the closure occurred because Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones, the official said, and both the FAA and the military have now determined there is no threat to commercial travel.
“The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X, referring to the Department of War. “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.”
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, cast doubt on the administration’s explanation.
“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,” Escobar said at a Wednesday morning press conference.
Escobar said the shutdown decision was made by the FAA in Washington, and that neither she, local officials in El Paso nor El Paso International Airport were notified by the agency. Escobar said she found out about the closure late Tuesday night from a member of the federal workforce.
While she would not comment on whether or not drone activity factored into the closure, she noted that drone incursions are not unusual and have occurred for years. She said the FAA owes the public an explanation for the abrupt closure and reopening.
“The information coming from the administration does not add up, and it’s not the information that I was able to gather overnight and this morning,” she said.
Top Democrats on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee blamed the White House and the Pentagon.
“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,” Reps. Rick Larsen, D-Washington and André Carson, D-Indiana, said in a statement. “This chaotic outcome is the result of ham-handed language forced into the [National Defense Authorization Act] by the White House that allowed the Pentagon to act recklessly in the public airspace.”
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, told Politico that he spoke to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford Wednesday morning. Nehls, the chairman of the aviation subcommittee on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, said the panel plans to look into why the administrator shut down the airspace.
“Having effective communication could prevent little things like this from becoming an issue,” Nehls said.
Escobar said there was not a threat to El Paso, which is why the restriction was lifted so quickly.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the airline resumed operations to and from the airport after the FAA lifted restrictions and customers should confirm their flight’s status before flying.
The Tribune was unable to immediately reach Fort Bliss officials for comment.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/11/el-paso-air-space-closed-faa/
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