Mexican officials feared El Paso airspace closure signaled U.S. incursion into Mexico
MEXICO CITY — Members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Cabinet woke up Wednesday morning to news that U.S. aviation authorities had closed airspace over the Texas city of El Paso, across from the border metropolis of Ciudad Juárez.
The move, which came just weeks after the closure of airspace over Venezuela paved the way for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, triggered alarm among Cabinet members tasked with ensuring national security and raised fears of a possible attack by U.S. forces, according to sources familiar with the conversations. They spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal high-level discussions.
Authorities suspected that El Paso airspace was closed in preparation for a unilateral raid against a drug lord in the state of Chihuahua, just across the Mexican border. US officials stated that the closure was a matter of national security and that it would last 10 days.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch called senior officials in the United States early Wednesday and was told the shutdown was not related to a raid in Mexico, according to an official familiar with the talks..
He briefed Security Cabinet officials at the daily morning briefing held by Sheinbaum, including the defense and navy secretaries, about his meeting with U.S. officials.
Hours later, the US Federal Aviation Administration reopened El Paso airspace. Transport Minister Sean Duffy shared that “the threat has been neutralized” at X.
Officially, US officials said a cartel-operated drone violated US airspace and was neutralized with a powerful anti-drone laser. A US government source who asked not to be named to discuss internal matters said the object was not a drone but a balloon belonging to the Mylar party.
Last year, President Trump threatened to send U.S. special forces after Mexican drug cartel kingpins. Trump said he repeatedly asked Sheinbaum to allow the U.S. military to operate in Mexico; Sheinbaum rejected this offer, calling it unacceptable and a violation of Mexican sovereignty.
For Mexican officials, this week’s shutdown was particularly surprising and alarming because it came just weeks after U.S. special forces captured Maduro in Caracas on January 3.
Mexican officials had watched with alarm as the United States increased pressure on Maduro in the weeks before his arrest, massing warships off the coast of Venezuela, then capturing him and his wife and bringing them to New York to face drug trafficking charges in U.S. federal court.
People familiar with the conversations said this week that Mexican officials thought the United States was preparing for such an attack in Mexico.
“The concern was that on the Juárez side they had a target they wanted,” said a person familiar with the talks.
Meanwhile, Sheinbaum has steadily increased security cooperation with the United States in an attempt to appease Trump and prevent unilateral U.S. action in Mexico. In an unprecedented move, the Sheinbaum administration circumvented Mexico’s extradition law and handed over nearly 100 detained drug lords to U.S. authorities last year.
But these prisoner transfers have not eased tensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, where cartel drones regularly fly into U.S. airspace, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
News of the airspace closure in El Paso spread quickly on Wednesday morning.
“I thought they were moving a high-value target into or out of the zone,” said El Paso resident Narada Johnson.
“This unnecessary decision has caused chaos and confusion in the El Paso community,” the city’s mayor, Renard Johnson, said at a press conference after the restriction was lifted. “This should never have happened.”
The shutdown comes as the Department of Homeland Security prepares to fire a powerful counter-drone laser. The use of the gun was confirmed by The Times. The agency targeted what was thought to be a cartel-controlled “dark drone,” a device that does not emit a radio signal or broadcast its identity, according to a person familiar with the operation who asked not to be named to discuss internal matters.
In recent months, the US government has increased counter-drone operations on the southern border. At a congressional hearing last July, Steven Willoughby, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s counter-drone program, said criminal groups often use drones to traffic fentanyl and spy on U.S. law enforcement operations.
In 2023, law enforcement seized one such drone carrying 3.6 kilograms of fentanyl, Willoughby said. Willoughby said the Department of Homeland Security counted nearly 27,000 drones flying within 500 meters (almost 550 yards) of the U.S. border in just the last half of 2024.
At his daily news conference Wednesday, Sheinbaum ignored the presence of cartel-operated drones in the border area.
“There is no information regarding the use of drones at the border,” Sheinbaum said.
But cartel drone attacks were at the top of the agenda at the most recent bilateral security meeting in Mexico City late last year, according to sources familiar with the talks. At the meeting, US officials emphasized the need for more coordination to stop drone attacks on US airspace. The Mexican government said it would form a working group on the issue.
Fisher is a special correspondent. independent journalist Alyda Muela in El Paso contributed to this report. This article was published alongside: Puente News CollaborationA nonprofit bilingual newsroom covering stories from Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border.
