This time it was a balloon. Could a 'cartel drone' be next?

SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico – Under a blue midday sky, the soundscape at the border fence included the call of roosters in Mexico, a Union Pacific train in the U.S. and a law enforcement helicopter chopping overhead.

Not heard at the time: the buzz of "cartel drones."

Trump administration officials and security experts say drones used by Mexican criminal organizations to smuggle drugs or surveil border security forces represent a potential security threat – one that provoked a sudden, eight-hour closure of the nearby El Paso International Airport on Feb. 10.

An administration official publicly blamed the no-fly order on a "cartel drone incursion," before competing accounts from other officials suggested border agents fired a new laser technology on what turned out to be a party balloon, according to multiple media reports. The FAA abruptly shut down the airport as a precaution.

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