Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the New World screwworm is just miles from the southern border as concerns build about the Trump administration’s response to the parasitic pest.
The screwworm was 187 miles from the Texas border in February. It is now 25 miles from the Texas border, Rollins said in an update on the parasite, which could pose a sweeping threat to the state’s multibillion-dollar livestock industry. Her remarks came as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) emphasized fears in Texas that the Department of Agriculture’s response to the crisis is lacking, with nearly $2 billion in damage to the state’s economy at stake.
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“We’re keeping the public updated in real time, shutting down rumors, and laying down the facts on exactly what we and our state partners are doing to protect American agriculture, livestock, and wildlife,” Rollins posted on X Tuesday.
Rollins said the screwworm had been found in a 5-year-old goat in Mexico’s Coahuila state, marking the closest confirmed case to the U.S. border during the most recent outbreak. The parasitic fly is typically confined to South America and the Caribbean but has made its way toward the United States amid record immigration through the area and Mexico in recent years. It feeds on warm-blooded animals, laying eggs in open wounds or areas such as the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. When the eggs hatch maggots, they then eat living tissue, which can be deadly for livestock and devastating to the ranching industry.
“There’s no doubt that this is a very, very serious threat to our livestock,” Rollins told reporters.
Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin led criticism of the government on Monday, alleging it “has moved at a snail’s pace” to address screwworms and calling on Texas officials to craft a state-led emergency response to the pests.
His plea came amid concern that the state lacks sufficient sterile fly capacity, even though they are the primary tool used to target screwworms. In the last major screwworm outbreak in Texas decades ago, the U.S. had around 700 million sterile flies on hand weekly. Texas now has access to only 100 million flies weekly as of February, from a Panama-based production facility. A domestic plant the USDA is building at Moore Air Base in South Texas, capable of producing up to another 300 million sterile flies weekly, isn’t projected for completion until November 2027 at the earliest.
“For more than a year, I have joined Texas ranchers in sounding the alarm while federal regulators have moved at a snail’s pace,” McLaughlin said. “Today, the threat is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is at our doorstep.”
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McLaughlin also said the insects were just 1 mile away from the border, leading the USDA to push back against “rumors.”
“When that false information gets out, it causes significant panic,” Rollins said at a press conference Tuesday. “And rightly so, especially if it’s coming from elected officials and the media.”
