Just two days into a scheduled plan to reopen the southern border with Mexico to cattle imports, the USDA issued a new border closure on July 9.
Newly reported cases of New World screwworm (NWS) prompted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to again issue the closure of livestock trade through southern ports immediately.
A new case of NWS in Ixhuatlan de Madera, Veracuz, approximately 160 miles north of the current sterile fly dispersal grid and just 370 miles south of the U.S. border, caused significant concern among U.S. officials, since the newest cases change the map of northward progression, according to a USDA press release.
Previous cases reported two months ago in Oaxaca and Veracruz were less than 700 miles away from the border, leading to a May 11 border shutdown.
“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,” said Rollins. “We must see additional progress combating NWS in Veracruz and other nearby Mexican states in order to reopen livestock ports along the southern border. 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.”
The USDA said it’s demanding that Mexico hold up tighter barriers to stop the movement of NWS, with “stringent animal movement controls, surveillance, trapping and following the proven science to push the NWS barrier south in phases as quickly as possible.”
No updated timetable had been released for the reopening of the border, which was scheduled to occur in stages from July 7 to Sept. 15.
