El Paso Airspace Shutdown Indicates Growing Pains in Trump Admin’s Attention to Long-Ignored Cartel Drone Menace
The threat of cartel drone incursions along the U.S.-Mexico border, estimated at 40,000 to 60,000 incidents annually, has been largely ignored under the Biden administration. The closure of airspace over El Paso on February 10 underscores the serious challenges the Trump administration now faces as it finally gives drone threats to the country the urgent attention they deserve.
As Breitbart Texas reported, on February 10, a drug cartel drone incursion resulted in the issuance of a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) that limited flight operations in El Paso and parts of eastern New Mexico, effectively shutting down all air traffic to or from the border city. The unprecedented move, which initially called for a complete ground shutdown of all planes entering and exiting El Paso International Airport, drew the ire of local, state and federal officials, who lamented the lack of communication beforehand.
The NOTAM ended less than eight hours later, punctuated by a social media post on
Secretary Duffy’s brief explanation did not address the enormous efforts the Trump administration has made to finally counter the drone threat posed by Mexican cartels for several years.
Efforts to focus on the largely ignored threat of drones shifted into high gear after President Trump signed an executive order in June 2025 titled “Restoring the Sovereignty of America’s Airspace.” In that order, Trump cited the dangers posed by criminals, terrorists and hostile foreign actors who have used unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) against the United States.
The president highlighted the threat contained in the order, saying: “Drug cartels are using UAS to smuggle fentanyl across our borders, deliver contraband to prisons, surveil law enforcement, and endanger the public. Mass gatherings are vulnerable to disruption and threats from unauthorized UAS flights. Critical infrastructure, including military bases, is subject to frequent – and often unidentified – incursions. “Immediate action is necessary to ensure American sovereignty over its skies and the maintenance of its airspace.
The order, among other things, directs administration officials to increase counter-UAS capability and strengthens ongoing efforts at the southwest border as part of the President’s efforts to secure the border after his inauguration.
Part of the President’s initiatives to this end included sending military units to the southwest border to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in detecting UAS threats and identifying any ground targets associated with UAS incursions.
The 10thth The Mountain Division radar unit was specifically deployed to the southwest border to provide a previously unseen capability in a homeland defense environment. Specifically, the platoon deployed the AN/TPQ-53 Quick Reaction Capability Radar, capable of identifying the origin and impact location of weapons such as rockets and mortars, as well as the AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar system, which tracks low-flying aircraft and UAS threats over large areas. This highly sophisticated equipment, historically used only on the battlefield under previous administrations, has now been adapted for homeland defense.
Efforts to detect drone incursions serve as a starting point for what has been revealed by the closure of El Paso’s airspace as an extremely difficult dilemma: how to shoot down a suspicious drone without threatening legitimate air traffic near border airports and military installations.
In April, Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson, Principal Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and Security Affairs of the Americas. testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, addressing the challenges of conducting counter-drone operations in civil airspace.
In his testimony, Ditlevson outlined the challenges, telling committee members: “The systems that have proven effective in countering UAS in the Middle East are not appropriate for the country given the intelligence collection required to enable these mitigation operations and the potential for collateral damage.” » Ditlevson told committee members that the War Department’s understanding of the unique threat and mitigation dynamics related to the UAS threat to the nation has improved significantly, and recommended continued shared government efforts to combat and resolve these threats.
Cartel-specific UAS threats range from counter-surveillance activities against U.S. law enforcement, to incursions to deliver illicit narcotics by air, and worryingly include the ability to deploy armed drones that have recently been used in Mexico to attack the military and law enforcement, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
The Trump administration’s War Department hopes to address the challenge posed by the UAS threat at the border and beyond through the Drone Dominance program, an initiative to improve and counter UAS capabilities.
In a July 2025 memorandum to senior Pentagon leaders, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called drones “the greatest innovation on the battlefield in a generation, accounting for most of this year’s casualties in Ukraine.”
As part of this program, the U.S. Department of War announced an invitation to 25 suppliers to participate in the first phase of the Drone Dominance Program (DDP), an acquisition reform effort aimed at rapidly procuring low-cost unmanned attack drones. The Department of War will also use the program to rapidly acquire innovative counter-UAS solutions that could be used to reduce or eliminate the threat of UAS incursions on the southwest border, overseas and domestic attacks.
While a communications glitch may have spoiled the short-lived shutdown of El Paso airspace to deal with a cartel drone incursion, the episode underscores how the Trump administration is finally building real momentum to confront a cartel drone threat that the previous administration largely ignored for years.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Division Chief of Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations of nine Border Patrol stations in the Del Rio Sector, Texas. Follow him on X @RandyClarkBBTX.
