ROOKE: Cartel Drone Takedown Highlights Stakes In Democrat-Backed DHS Funding Cut

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an abrupt notice Wednesday grounding all flights in and out of El Paso International Airport after Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace near the region.

While U.S. military forces neutralized the threat and the airspace is now reopened, Senate Democrats are openly preparing to block further funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the very counter-drone defenses that were just used over El Paso, Texas.

An administration official confirms to @DailyCaller that Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace, causing the closure of airspace over El Paso. I’m told that the Department of War took action “to disable the drones.”

Both the FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to… https://t.co/L1ZgT5TxXc

— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) February 11, 2026

DHS is operating under a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that expires at midnight Feb. 13. Congress has already passed the FY2026 appropriations bill, which funds an overwhelming majority of the federal government. Only DHS remains on the short-term CR. This was a deliberate choice by lawmakers earlier in the process to separate politically charged DHS funding from the rest of the package. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

Democrats have made it their new campaign slogan to claim they are going to defund DHS over the Trump administration’s deportation policies. Senate Democrats, led by figures like Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have framed their resistance as a demand for reforms and accountability at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following recent enforcement incidents. They have threatened to withhold support for any CR or full-year bill that does not include new restrictions on immigration agents.

However, the reality that Democrats are choosing to ignore is that blocking DHS funding will not stop the deportation machine that Republicans have built. Instead, it will cripple operationally critical programs, like the counter-drone defense program.

Democrats are letting their voters believe that defunding ICE can only be accomplished through locking the government down Feb. 13 over the last bit of DHS funding that has yet to be approved. However, President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law in July 2025. That piece of legislation injected around $170 billion in supplemental funding over multiple years for immigration and border enforcement.

ICE alone will receive roughly $75 billion over four years, and the funds will be available until September 2029. The Trump administration has plenty of money for interior enforcement, detention expansion, and deportations for the foreseeable future.

ICE is already funded through 2029 under the Working Families Tax Cuts to secure the border and protect Americans. Now Chuck Schumer is playing games with funding for FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard. pic.twitter.com/iMWtMDU2YW

— Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (@RepBethVanDuyne) February 3, 2026

By refusing to fund DHS, Democrats are attacking expiring annual appropriations, including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster response and grants, U.S. Coast Guard day-to-day missions, Secret Service protective details, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cybersecurity initiatives, and the new Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PEO UAS/C-UAS).

The new program’s mission is to deploy drone and counter-drone technologies across Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ICE, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard. (A Small-Town Immigrant Takeover In Real Time? Local Officials Don’t Want You To Know About It, Residents Fear)

Blocking DHS funding would starve the very defenses America needs against the same threats that forced El Paso’s airport to shut down Wednesday.

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