President Donald Trump’s administration has suspended imports of live cattle, horses, and bison through ports of entry along the southern border in response to the advancing threat of the New World Screwworm (NWS), a flesh-eating parasite that has moved within 700 miles of the U.S. border. The order took immediate effect Sunday, announced by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
“This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico,” Rollins said. “The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance.”
The Department of Agriculture confirmed that the measure, taken in coordination with Customs and Border Protection, will be reassessed on a month-to-month basis. The goal is to prevent the reintroduction of the NWS, which was eradicated from the U.S. in 1966. The pest causes severe and often deadly tissue damage in livestock through larval infestation.
Rollins explained that despite cooperation with Mexican officials, current containment efforts have failed to stop the parasite’s northward progression. “Until a significant window of containment is achieved,” she said, imports will remain suspended.
The move follows criticism from American livestock leaders who say Mexico has been slow to act. Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, noted that Mexico’s efforts to hold the pest behind the Isthmus of Tehuantepec “failed,” describing the route as a “superhighway to the United States.”
State-level agriculture leaders, including from Texas and Montana, applauded the Trump administration’s swift action. Lesley Robinson, president of the Montana Stockgrower’s Association, said the risk posed by NWS underscores that “food safety and food security is national security.”
Sterile fly releases are underway in Central America and southern Mexico as part of a containment strategy, according to USDA officials.
