With confirmed detections of New World screwworm in Texas and New Mexico, the pest has returned. Largely due to the Biden administration’s open border policy and lack of attention to the potential issue, the screwworm threat has reached American soil.

For months, we watched screwworm steadily advance through Mexico. During that time, I repeatedly warned that we could not afford to rely solely on existing sterile fly production while waiting years for new production facilities to come online. I called for stronger border protections, expanded surveillance, increased sterile fly production, and immediate deployment of every proven tool available.