It is the latest in a series of northward detections over the past two months, including one in Oaxaca in Mexico’s south, and other areas of Veracruz, which lies on the Gulf of America.
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has ordered the shutdown of livestock trade through southern border ports following the detection of a new case of New World Screwworm in Veracruz, Mexico—a massive red flag that the parasite is moving north toward the United States.
The latest report came from Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality, which confirmed a case in Ixhuatlán de Madero, Veracruz, which is concerningly 160 miles north of the current sterile fly containment zone and just 370 miles south of the US-Mexico border.
It is the latest in a series of northward detections over the past two months, including one in Oaxaca in Mexico's south, and other areas of Veracruz, which lies on the Gulf of America. Those earlier cases led to the original border closure on May 11, 2025, stopping cattle, bison, and horse imports from Mexico.
“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. We must see additional progress combatting NWS in Veracruz and other nearby Mexican states in order to reopen livestock ports along the Southern border,” said Rollins. “Thanks to the aggressive monitoring by USDA staff in the U.S. and in Mexico, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to respond to the spread of this deadly pest.”
In June, Secretary Rollins released the Bold Plan to combat New World Screwworm that aims to "protect the border at all costs," increasing eradication efforts in Mexico, and increasing readiness.
The USDA also announced the "groundbreaking of a sterile fly dispersal facility in South Texas. This facility will provide a critical contingency capability to disperse sterile flies should a NWS detection be made in the southern United States."
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