Following another detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Veracruz, Mexico, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins ordered the closure of the southern border again to livestock imports.
“The United States has promised to be vigilant—and after detecting this new NWS case, we are pausing the planned port reopening’s to further quarantine and target this deadly pest in Mexico,” Rollins said.
She continued, “We must see additional progress combatting NWS in Veracruz and other nearby Mexican states in order to reopen livestock ports along the Southern border.”
On July 8, Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality reported a new case of NWS detected in Veracruz, Mexico, which is about 370 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border. The case was found 160 miles northward of the current sterile fly dispersal grid.
USDA planned to reopen the border at southern ports in phases, beginning July 7 in Douglas, AZ, just two days before the border was shut down again. The border was previously closed to live animal imports beginning May 11 after NWS cases were reported in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz.
USDA launched a plan in June to protect the border and increase NWS eradication efforts in Mexico. In addition, a sterile fly dispersal facility was established at Moore Air Base in South Texas. The method of sterile fly dispersal has been used in the past to eradicate the pest. Sterile male flies are released to mate with wild females, resulting in unfertilized eggs and a reduction in the fly population. The department also plans to build a domestic sterile fly production facility.
USDA said it will continue to have personnel conduct site visits in Mexico to ensure the government has adequate protocols and surveillance in place to combat the pest.
Industry reactions
Industry groups applauded Rollins’ decision to close the border.
“American cattle producers and R-CALF USA have been sounding the alarm about what we viewed as a premature reopening, and it’s clear the secretary has heard the voice of independent producers,” said Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF), USA CEO Bill Bullard.
The statement comes following a letter from R-CALF and 19 affiliate groups urging USDA to halt livestock imports until Mexico fully eradicates the pest.
“There is no justifiable reason to knowingly relax current protective measures that will result in increasing the risk of NWS introduction into the United States,” the groups wrote in the July 3 letter to Rollins.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) urged USDA to expedite the development of a sterile fly production facility. “Unfortunately, screwworm continues to move north through Mexico and it’s clear that the United States needs a sterile fly facility of our own here at home,” said NCBA CEO Colin Woodall.
Planned reopening
On June 30, USDA announced that cattle, bison and equine imports would resume as the agency reopened ports on the southern border. The earliest planned reopening was scheduled for July 7 in Douglas, AZ.
“We have made good progress with our counterparts in Mexico to increase vital pest surveillance efforts and have boosted sterile fly dispersal efforts,” Rollins said at the time.
The Douglas port was selected as first to reopen because the USDA said it has the lowest risk based on the geography of bordering Mexican state Sonora, and that there is a long history of USDA and Sonoran officials collaborating on animal health issues.
Following the Douglas port reopening, the remaining ports were to reopen on the following schedule:
• Columbus, NM: July 14.
• Santa Teresa, NM: July 21.
• Del Rio, TX: Aug. 18.
• Laredo, TX: Sept. 15.
Cattle trade over the border
In 2023, which was the most recent complete year of border trade with Mexico, the Santa Teresa port was the largest port for cattle imports, accounting for about 43% of total Mexican cattle imports, according to Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist. The New Mexico ports represented 53.4% of total Mexican cattle imports in 2023.
The Douglas, AZ, port was the second largest port, accounting for about 15% of total annual feeder cattle imports. In total, Arizona ports accounted for 27.5% of total imports of Mexican cattle in 2023.
Texas ports accounted for just under 20% of Mexican cattle imports in 2023.
The list of ports scheduled to reopen before the border was closed again accounted for about 71% of total imports in 2023. From early February to mid-May, a total of 224,834 Mexican cattle crossed the border, according to Peel.
“Given the remaining weeks of the year and the likelihood that ports will not jump to historic capacity immediately, total possible imports for the year are likely to be significantly reduced for the year,” Peel said.
Cattle imports from Mexico have totaled well over 1 million head annually for the past 40 years. Peel predicted total cattle imports will be in the range of 400,000-700,000 head for 2025—although that number was calculated using estimates from the planned port reopenings. — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
