McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday said Mexico has agreed to allow U.S. planes to land with equipment to help eradicate an insect that is threatening livestock on the Southwest border.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins on Saturday sent a letter to her counterpart in Mexico demanding that Mexico eliminate restrictions on USDA aircraft that she says have been hampering U.S. responses to stop the spread of the New World screwworm.
She also had threatened to halt beef imports starting Wednesday if an agreement was not reached.
But on Tuesday, Rollins posted on X: “Mexico has agreed to let our sterile fly planes land. A HUGE win for our American ranchers!”
Rollins also has asked Mexico to waive customs duties on eradication equipment, which she says are necessary to stop the pest from spreading north of the border.
“The outbreak in southern Mexico continues to expand, and every day that passes without full deployment of sterile insect technique (SIT) operations represents a lost opportunity to contain this pest and prevent its spread,” Rollins wrote in a letter to Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristán.
Rollins says currently the insects are south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a land mass that is the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean in southern Mexico. But if they spread north then she says they seriously threaten U.S. livestock.
The New World screwworm is a fly larva that burrows into a living animal’s flesh and can cause serious damage and even death. It typically infests livestock, wildlife, pets and even birds. And it can infect people, as well, particularly in open sores or wounds, according to the Department of Agriculture.
It was eradicated from the United States in 1966 using sterile insect techniques. But the insects returned in 2016 in parts of the Florida Keys and were eradicated again by releasing sterile male flies into the affected region, the Department of Agriculture says.
Rollins says she wants to work with Mexican officials to push the screwworm south to its “biological barrier at the Darién Gap.”
Texas Agriculture Sid Miller on Tuesday said he supports Rollins efforts because the screwworms “presents a serious and urgent risk to Texas and American agriculture. Each day that we lose operational ground strengthens this deadly threat’s foothold.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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