US to reopen border to Mexican cattle imports after screwworm shutdown

Healthcare US to reopen border to Mexican cattle imports after screwworm shutdown Comments: by Sarah Davis - 07/25/26 11:26 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 07/25/26 11:26 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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The U.S. will initiate a “phased reopening” next month of the country’s southern cattle ports, which were closed in May following the detection of a New World Screwworm (NWS) outbreak, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday.

The USDA will reopen the livestock port in Douglas, Ariz, on Aug. 24. Ports in two New Mexico border cities, Santa Teresa and Columbus, will reopen after this, pending Mexico’s compliance with the Joint Action Plan adopted to address this outbreak.

All animals entering the U.S. through these ports will be subjected to a “full USDA inspection” for signs of screwworm infection, the department said.

“Protecting the United States from NWS and pushing this pest out of Mexico and back to the Darien Gap is a top priority at USDA and has the full attention of the Trump Administration,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a Friday statement.

“The closure of the Southern ports of entry for the last year has been a tough but necessary action to control the spread of NWS in Mexico and protect the American livestock industry,” she continued. “Thanks to the work across the federal government as well as state, local, and industry partners, it is now safe to reopen the Douglas, Arizona, port in 30 days to resume the hundreds year old movement of cattle.”

The USDA has tracked 42 confirmed cases of screwworm in the U.S. since the initial report of the outbreak on June 3. As of Friday, only nine of these cases were still active, according to the department’s dashboard.

Thirty-one of these cases were reported in June, while 11 were reported in July. One case was reported in New Mexico, while the rest occurred in Texas.

As of Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) characterizes the health risk of NWS to humans and animals in the U.S. as “very low.” The CDC noted that there have been zero reported human infestations tied to this outbreak.

The incidence rate in animals located in Central American countries and in Mexico is much higher. These countries have reported over 189,000 NWS cases in animals and 2,290 cases in people, according to the CDC.

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