Rollins Says Screw Worm Is 25 Miles From Border

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that screw worm flies were 25 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. She said the Agriculture Department will ramp up communication after the new case was reported 25 miles from Texas.

Brooke Rollins and Don McLaughlin

The distance is the closest the flies have been detected since monitoring began in November 2024, after cases were confirmed in Mexico. Don McLaughlin, a Uvalde Republican and Texas state representative, said in a Monday statement that the insects were one mile from the border and urged Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows to organize a Texas-led emergency response modeled after Operation Lone Star.

Rollins called McLaughlin a well-intentioned state legislator. She also said, "When that false information gets out, it causes significant panic" and "And rightly so, especially if it’s coming from elected officials and the media."

Texas Ranchers and USDA

McLaughlin said, "For more than a year, I have joined Texas ranchers in sounding the alarm while federal regulators have moved at a snail’s pace." He said, "Today, the threat is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is at our doorstep."

The warning lands after more than three decades without the pest in this part of the region, even though cases were reported in 2023 south of the U.S. in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The screw worm burrows into the flesh of living animals and lays eggs in open wounds, and it can infest pets, wildlife and humans as well as livestock.

November 2024 Monitoring

State and federal officials began monitoring cases in November 2024, when cases were reported in Mexico. Rollins said the department would ramp up communication efforts after the latest report, a response that puts the immediate focus on alerting ranchers and other animal owners as the flies move closer to the border.