UMVA has learned that the New World screwworm, a parasite eradicated from the United States 60 years ago, has returned to American soil, with Texas on the front line of this threat to U.S. sovereignty and national security.
The parasite's return began with the collapse of a biological containment barrier in Central America in 2021, which allowed infested livestock to be smuggled northward through cartel-controlled corridors. By the time the first cases were detected in Mexico in November 2024, the parasite had already spread across Central America and deep into southern Mexico.
Mexican cartels, functioning as de facto proxies for elements of the Mexican state, have been moving an estimated 800,000 cattle per year from Central America into Mexico through poorly governed corridors, using fake ear tags and falsified veterinary records to bypass government checkpoints and sanitary inspections. This illicit trade is worth roughly $320 million annually.
Once inside Mexico, the animals are laundered into the legal system, where they can enter feedlots or reach federally inspected slaughter plants used for domestic processing and exports. The New World screwworm has caused over 171,700 animal cases and 2,070 human cases across Mexico and Central America, with many infestations likely going undetected or unreported.
Elements of the Mexican state continue to protect cartel networks moving high-risk biological material toward the U.S. supply chain, with Mexico exporting roughly 1.25 million head of live cattle to the United States in 2024, valued at $1.3 billion. The live cattle trade was paused, but Mexico rapidly expanded processed beef exports to the U.S., with exports rising 23 percent in the first four months of 2026.
The return of the New World screwworm threatens more than a single agricultural market, with Presidential Policy Directive 21 defining critical infrastructure, including food and agriculture, as systems and assets vital to the United States. The USDA warns that this sector is a known target for terrorists and malicious actors, with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins declaring, "Food security is national security."
Mexico's leaders continue to invoke sovereignty while practicing selective cooperation, with AMLO's "abrazos, no balazos" doctrine providing political cover for limiting action against cartel power. The mass movement of illegal aliens through cartel-controlled corridors toward the United States has also raised concerns.
The return of the New World screwworm couldn't come at a worse time for the American beef industry, with U.S. cattle inventory at a 75-year low and beef imports at record levels. By maintaining high levels of agricultural trade while cartels control significant portions of the supply chain, Mexico deepens U.S. dependence.
Texas counties are on the front line of this incursion, and the United States must not decouple trade policy from national security. No policy, protocol, or quarantine can protect America while Mexico's cartel-state alliance keeps those routes open.
