Following a federal ban on foreign-made drones implemented last fall, the El Paso Police Department is seeking a nearly $4.6 million grant to purchase U.S.-made models for its drone emergency response program.
The department, whose fleet now comprises 22 DJI drones and docks made in China, is applying for a grant under the federal government’s Community Project Funding program.
“It’s important to note that the drone technology purchased by this grant program is to use only U.S.-made drones replacing any Chinese technology,” Omar Martinez, with the city’s office of legislative affairs, said during an El Paso City Council meeting Wednesday.
The council voted unanimously to approve the$4.6 million grant application through the Office of Congressman Tony Gonzales, who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations. Funding would be for the 2027 fiscal year and would not require a city match. City Reps. Josh Acevedo, Art Fierro and Cynthia Boyar Trejo were absent for the vote.
Martinez said the city missed the deadline for proposals for the 2026 fiscal year.
If approved, the grant would buy 12 new drone pods and accompanying accessories with a five-year support and maintenance agreement for the department’s initiative to expand its Drone as First Responder program. The program – which comprises police, fire and other emergency response agencies – aims to improve response times by using drones to capture real-time information and create thermal imaging and 3D incident maps.
El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas called the replacement routine and not a direct response to the ban.
“What it’s going to do is to help us replace the current drone fleet with the latest technology of drones under U.S. manufacturers,” Pacillas told El Paso Matters after the meeting. “It’s not in response to that (the federal ban). We’re continuously upgrading our fleet. It doesn’t matter if it’s our cars or equipment, things of that nature – so this is just one of the progressions of this type of project.”
The department will continue to use the existing equipment until any new replacements are purchased, he said. The current drones are not out of date, but the department wanted to begin looking for funding sources in advance, he added.
“We’re just getting ahead of it, and we have an opportunity through Congressman Gonzales’ office to potentially get us to move a little bit faster than we could if we had to rely on other funding sources,” Pacillas said.
If the grant is awarded, the city would have to bid for the new drones so it is not yet clear which U.S. manufacturer may be selected. The grant may fund 12 new drones, but Pacillas said they may be able to acquire enough to replace the full fleet depending on the bids.
“When we start looking at products, we look at what is the best technology that we can get for the money that we have – so sometimes we stay with the same technology or equipment. Sometimes we move on to something that’s better and more cost effective,” he said.
Pacillas said the department will get rid of the DJI equipment if and when the replacements are purchased, and will follow the city’s procurement rules for disposal of the foreign-made equipment. He said he did not know what the process might be.
The Federal Communications Commission in December banned the purchase of new foreign-made drones. The agency now prohibits new foreign-made drone models from entering the U.S. market – including those made by China-based DJI, the city’s current supplier.
The FCC’s decision stemmed, in part, from a prior mandate in 2025 that sought a national security review of Chinese-made drones.
The Police Department unveiled the drone program less than three months before the FCC ruling, and had been operating since 2018 through a partnership with DJI. The city operates at least 22 drone docks throughout El Paso and has about 40 licensed drone pilots. The police drones work with the El Paso Fire Department and El Paso International Airport for firefighting, search-and-rescue operations, runway inspections and perimeter monitoring at the airport.
Under the FCC ruling, the city can continue to use the drones already bought from DJI, or buy older models approved through the FCC’s equipment authorization process. Any modernization of the drone program has to comply with the American Security Drone Act of 2023 and state and federal laws.
The police department spent about $1.2 million on the DJI drones, according to police spokesman Robert Gomez. Pacillas said they were purchased with American Rescue Plan Act funding.
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