The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, members of Congress said Thursday, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.
It’s unclear why the laser was deployed; it’s the second time in two weeks that one has been fired in the area. The military is required to formally notify the FAA whenever it takes counter-drone action inside U.S. airspace.
An earlier laser firing by CBP near Fort Bliss, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest, did not hit a target and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at El Paso airport and surrounding areas. This time the closure was smaller and commercial flights were not affected.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and two other top Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees said they were stunned when officially notified. “Our heads are exploding over the news,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement, criticizing the Trump administration for “sidestepping” a bipartisan bill to train drone operators and improve communication among the Pentagon, FAA and Department of Homeland Security. “Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence,” they added.
The FAA, CBP and the Pentagon issued a joint statement acknowledging the military “employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.” The statement said the action occurred far from populated areas and commercial flights as part of efforts to strengthen protections at the border.
The joint statement also said, “At President Trump’s direction, the Department of War, FAA, and Customs and Border Patrol are working together in an unprecedented fashion to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the U.S.-Mexico Border,” and added that the administration is doing more to secure the border and crack down on cartels than any prior administration.
The El Paso shutdown two weeks ago lasted only a few hours but caused alarm and led to multiple flight cancellations in the city of nearly 700,000 people near the Mexican border. In that incident, an anti-drone laser deployed by CBP near Fort Bliss reportedly did not coordinate with the FAA, which then closed El Paso airspace to ensure commercial flight safety, according to sources familiar with the matter. Members of Congress said that episode appeared to reflect interagency dysfunction.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he planned to brief members of Congress about the event and told reporters last Friday that it wasn’t a mistake for the FAA to close the El Paso airspace and that he did not believe a communication breakdown caused the problems.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member on the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, said the situation demands independent investigations, calling the administration’s handling “incompetence” that continues to cause chaos in U.S. skies.
Concerns about agency coordination intensified after last year’s midair collision near Washington, D.C., between an airliner and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. The National Transportation Safety Board found the FAA and Army had not consistently shared safety data about numerous close calls around Reagan National Airport and had failed to address the risk.
Congress recently expanded authority for more law enforcement agencies — including some state and local departments — to take down rogue drones, provided they receive proper training. Previously, only a few federal agencies had that power. The U.S. government has distributed more than $250 million to help states prepare to respond to drones for upcoming large events, and another $250 million in grants will be awarded later this year to strengthen drone defenses.
Drones have increasingly caused problems along the border: cartels use them to deliver drugs and surveil Border Patrol agents. Officials told Congress last summer that more than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet (500 meters) of the southern border in the last six months of 2024. Homeland Security estimates there are more than 1.7 million registered drones in the U.S., a number that continues to grow.
Anti-drone systems vary: some jam radio signals, others use high-powered microwaves or laser beams like those used in Texas to disable drones. Some systems deploy small intercepting drones to ram threatening aircraft, and there are kinetic options that use bullets—more common on battlefields than in domestic settings.