US to Reopen Border to Mexican Cattle Imports After Screwworm Shutdown

The United States will slowly reopen its southern border ports to cattle from Mexico starting next month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA, made the announcement on Friday. The ports were shut down in May after a harmful parasite called the New World Screwworm, or NWS, was found in animals near the border. Officials say the reopening will happen in stages to make sure the pest does not spread further into the country.

The first port to reopen will be in Douglas, Arizona, on August 24. After that, ports in two New Mexico border towns — Santa Teresa and Columbus — may reopen as well. However, those towns will only reopen if Mexico follows a shared plan, called the Joint Action Plan, that both countries agreed to in order to fight the outbreak. Officials want to be sure that every step forward is safe before moving ahead.

Every animal that enters the U.S. through these border ports will go through a full inspection by USDA workers. Inspectors will look for signs that an animal has been infected by screwworms. This careful checking process is meant to stop any infected animals from crossing into the country and spreading the pest. The USDA says no animal will be allowed in without passing this check.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said protecting the U.S. from the New World Screwworm is one of her department's top goals. She said the port closures over the past months were difficult but needed to slow down the spread of the pest. She also thanked workers at the federal, state, and local levels for their efforts. 'It is now safe to reopen the Douglas, Arizona, port in 30 days to resume the hundreds year old movement of cattle,' she said.

Since the outbreak was first reported on June 3, the USDA has tracked 42 confirmed cases of screwworm in the United States. As of Friday, only nine of those cases were still active. Most of the cases — 31 of them — showed up in June, and 11 more were found in July. Almost all of the cases happened in Texas, with just one reported in New Mexico.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, says the health risk for people and animals in the U.S. is currently 'very low.' As of Tuesday, there have been zero reported cases of screwworm infecting a human linked to this outbreak. That is good news for Americans, but the situation is much worse in other parts of the world. Countries in Central America and Mexico have reported more than 189,000 cases in animals and 2,290 cases in people.