The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Federal Aviation Administration moved to close additional airspace around Fort Hancock after the incident, lawmakers said. The drone that authorities downed was later identified, lawmakers said, as belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, raising questions about how counter-drone actions are coordinated in U.S. airspace.
According to the lawmakers, Washington U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and two other top Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Homeland Security Committee said they were stunned when they were formally notified of the episode. In a joint statement, the lawmakers said, “Our heads are exploding over the news,” and criticized the Trump administration for “sidestepping” a bipartisan bill intended to train drone operators and improve communication among the Pentagon, the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security, including CBP. They added, “Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence,” as they called for oversight.
The case prompted the FAA to close additional airspace around Fort Hancock, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of El Paso. The military used the laser after the drone was assessed as “seemingly threatening,” lawmakers said, and the Pentagon, the FAA and CBP later described the action as a counter-unmanned aircraft response within military airspace.
In a joint statement issued late Thursday, the FAA, CBP and the Pentagon said the military “employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.” The statement said the incident occurred far from populated areas and commercial flights, and described the action as part of efforts “to strengthen protections at the border.” It also said the work was being carried out “At President Trump’s direction” to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and “foreign terrorist organizations” at the border.
Thursday’s incident came just two weeks after a prior laser firing in the same area, lawmakers and the article described. In that earlier case, CBP used the anti-drone laser and nothing was hit. That episode prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic in El Paso and surrounding areas; this time, the airspace closure was smaller and did not affect commercial flights, the report said.
The concern among members of Congress was that multiple agencies were not coordinating properly about counter-drone activity and aviation safety. As reported previously in MSI coverage of the FAA shutdown after CBP used an anti-drone laser on Feb. 12, lawmakers questioned how FAA closures followed CBP laser use and what notification and coordination occurred before action in the air.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he planned to brief members of Congress about the earlier El Paso incident, and he also addressed the FAA shutdown at an unrelated news conference last Friday. He said it was not a mistake for the FAA to close the airspace in El Paso and said he does not think a communication issue led to the problems.
Separately, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and ranking member on the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, called for an independent investigation into the episode. She cited the earlier example of a 2025 midair collision near Washington, D.C., between an airliner and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, where a National Transportation Safety Board review found the FAA and the Army did not share safety data and failed to address risks identified during close calls near Reagan National Airport.
Congress has also moved to expand counter-drone authority to more local and state law enforcement agencies, the report said. Two months earlier, Congress agreed to allow additional agencies to take down rogue drones if they are properly trained, broadening the number of groups that can respond to drone threats beyond a limited set of federal agencies.
The report cited broader concerns about drones along the border, saying cartels routinely use drones to deliver drugs and to surveil Border Patrol officers. Officials told Congress 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, and it said Homeland Security estimates there are more than 1.7 million registered drones flying in the United States.
The article also outlined different counter-drone methods, including systems that jam drones with radio signals or high-powered microwaves, use laser beams, or deploy small interceptor drones. It noted that some systems use bullets, though it said those are more common on battlefields than in domestic use.