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LUBBOCK — Parasitic, flesh-eating flies are 25 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday, refuting a claim by a Texas state lawmaker that the insects were just one mile away.
State Rep. Don McLaughlin, a Uvalde Republican, made that claim in a statement Monday. In doing so, he demanded greater state protection for the billion-dollar cattle industry threatened by the New World screwworm.
Rollins, at a news conference Tuesday, called McLaughlin a “well-intentioned state legislator.”
“When that false information gets out, it causes significant panic,” Rollins said. “And rightly so, especially if it’s coming from elected officials and the media.”
Rollins said that with the new case just 25 miles away from Texas, the department would ramp up communication efforts.
It’s the closest the flies have been detected since state and federal officials started monitoring cases in November 2024, when cases were confirmed in Mexico. Texans are increasingly worried that the federal response has not done enough to stop the flies’ northern migration.
McLaughlin, channeling that frustration in his Monday letter, called on Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows to organize a Texas-led emergency response. McLaughlin suggested it be modeled after Operation Lone Star — the state’s response to unauthorized border crossings.
“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 in a statement. “Today, the threat is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is at our doorstep.”
McLaughlin said Texas can’t afford to wait until the screwworm crosses the border. For more than three decades, the pest was eradicated. However, cases were reported in 2023 south of the U.S., including Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
The screwworm burrows into the flesh of living animals and lays eggs in their open wounds. While the fly causes diseases primarily in animals and livestock, pets, wildlife and humans can also be infested. Rollins said the risk to the public and food safety is low.
Once cases were being reported out of Mexico, Texas cattle and livestock ranchers began warning others how the screwworm could devastate their industries. Texas leads the U.S. in cattle production, bringing in $15 billion a year to the state.
“There is no doubt that this is a very, very serious threat to our livestock,” Rollins said.
Dudley Hoskins with the USDA said when the department received confirmation of the case 25 miles away, Rollins deployed a team to South Texas, as part of the USDA’s unified incident management team, to work with the TAHC.
The federal government has taken steps to stop the screwworm from affecting cattle and livestock, including investing $100 million into research, traps, and mounted patrol officers known as tick riders at the border.
Earlier this year, Rollins visited the Rio Grande Valley with Abbott and said the USDA and state response teams had taken proactive steps to prepare the region to eradicate the screwworm. They released sterile male flies to mate with female screwworm flies, making them lay unfertilized eggs. Rollins also ordered the closure of all southern ports of entry to livestock last year.
As of Tuesday, nearly 1,900 active animal cases in Mexico and almost 27,000 since November 2024.
Renzo Downey contributed reporting.
