Authoritarianism, incompetence — or both?

US shuts airspace over El Paso: flights grounded, lasers fired, party balloons intercepted

Up until about 48 hours ago, the biggest controversy surrounding El Paso Airport was the planned increase in long-term parking charges, set to rise by $2 to $9 a day. Then, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) abruptly announced it was shutting the airspace above the Texas city for an extraordinary 10 days, citing “special security reasons”. This is not normal.

Hours later, following outcry from local officials and representatives, the restrictions were lifted. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X that the “threat has been neutralized,” but declined to reveal any further details, such as what the threats were and why such unusual steps had been taken. Again, not normal.

From a logistical perspective, a 10-day closure¹ would have been hugely disruptive. El Paso is the 23rd largest city in the US, with a metropolitan population of almost 900,000. The nearest alternative commercial airport is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a roughly five-hour car journey away². As aviation expert Jason Rabinowitz bluntly put it: “Anyone needing a lifeline flight to a hospital or outside El Paso will die.”

At the same time, there was understandable confusion and even fear about what the Trump administration might have been up to. This suspicion did not arise in a vacuum. Roughly 1,300 miles north of El Paso in Minneapolis, the US government has been deploying masked federal immigration agents. Two people have been shot and killed, students have stayed away from school citing safety concerns and cars have been left strewn across city streets — engines sometimes still running — after drivers were taken by ICE.

Portland Avenue and 34th Street in South Minneapolis (Chad Davis)

El Paso, meanwhile — situated on the US-Mexico border — is the second-largest absolute-majority-Hispanic city in the United States. It is also home to the Camp East Montana ICE detention facility, one of the biggest in the country, with around 3,000 inmates as of the end of January. Widespread reporting has revealed appalling conditions in the tent-style facility, where three undocumented migrants have died within 44 days, according to NBC News.

The death of detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, on January 3, has been ruled a homicide by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s office, with the autopsy report citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression”. Previously, ICE had claimed that Campos was attempting suicide and that staff had attempted to save him. And earlier this month, two cases of tuberculosis were detected. The American Civil Liberties Union has warned of “inhumane conditions” at the site, citing physical and sexual abuse as well as medical neglect.

Party like it’s 1848

It transpires that the airspace above El Paso was closed not because of an imminent threat to the city (drone incursions from Mexico are neither new, nor have they been handled in such a way before) but instead because of disagreements and miscommunication between the FAA and Department of Defense.

As reported by CBS News, the Pentagon was planning to use a high-energy laser near Fort Bliss, situated next to the airport, to practice shooting down drones. The airspace, by the way, was closed without a thought to notifying the White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security officials, let alone anyone in El Paso. If you want to feel even less reassured, the flying object turned out to be party balloons. At least one was intercepted — which is something, I guess.

In other words, on this occasion it was bog standard incompetence, rather than creeping authoritarianism. Except, of course, these are far from mutually exclusive explanations.