A Pest Eradicated for Decades Has Returned
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told a Senate committee Wednesday that the Biden administration’s border policies bear responsibility for the return of New World screwworm to the United States, a livestock pest that the country had successfully eliminated more than half a century ago.
Six confirmed cases have now been documented on U.S. soil: five in South Texas and one in New Mexico. New World screwworm was eradicated from the United States in 1966. The parasite is a fly that deposits eggs in open wounds on animals; once hatched, the larvae consume living flesh and can kill livestock if untreated.
Rollins appeared before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee for an oversight hearing and placed blame squarely on the previous administration. “Everyone took their eye off the ball years ago, and unfortunately, because of the border policies, it’s coming our way,” she said.
She was quick to separate the issue from public health concerns. “The food supply is 100% safe. This is not a disease. It’s not a virus. It’s a fly,” Rollins told the committee.
Federal Response Already Underway
The USDA has committed $1.3 billion to address the threat. The department closed all southern border ports to livestock trade last summer in an effort to slow the pest’s northward movement. Screwworm prevention personnel have grown from 10 full-time staff at the start of last year to more than 120 today.
The agency’s primary eradication tool is the release of sterilized flies, which disrupt the screwworm’s breeding cycle. The USDA currently produces roughly 100 million sterilized flies per week, but officials say 500 million per week would be needed to achieve full eradication. That gap represents a significant logistical challenge ahead.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) joined Rollins in laying blame on the Biden administration for failing to respond to the screwworm threat before it reached U.S. territory.
Staffing Cuts Raise Questions
Not everyone at the hearing was focused on the prior administration. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) pressed Rollins on workforce reductions at the USDA, questioning whether cuts to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service could hamper the agency’s ability to respond. The USDA has shed more than 21,000 employees since President Trump returned to office, and APHIS alone lost 25 percent of its workforce, including more than 300 veterinary services employees.
The tension between the administration’s workforce-reduction agenda and the need for robust agricultural protection personnel is likely to continue as lawmakers monitor how quickly the USDA can scale up its screwworm response capacity.
Why This Matters Beyond the Border States
While no cases have been confirmed in Idaho or the broader Northwest, the screwworm threat carries real stakes for cattle producers across the country. Idaho’s agricultural economy depends heavily on livestock, and any spread of a parasite capable of killing animals before ranchers can respond would have serious economic consequences for the region.
The administration’s enforcement posture at the southern border has broader implications for agricultural biosecurity that extend well beyond Texas and New Mexico. Congress recently passed a sweeping immigration enforcement bill signed by President Trump that funds border operations through 2029, a measure supporters argue will help close the gaps that allowed threats like screwworm to gain a foothold.
For now, federal officials say the situation is contained but demand continued attention. The USDA’s ability to close the gap between its current sterilized-fly output and the volume needed for eradication will be the clearest measure of whether the agency’s $1.3 billion investment translates into results.
North Idaho Republican Staff