The return of screwworm comes after the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, launched by the Trump administration, last year cut funding for a project dedicated to monitoring and containing New World screwworm in Central America.

The funding was axed days before the U.S. ended a temporary suspension of cattle imports from Mexico, meaning livestock was allowed to cross the border without any of the monitoring previously funded by the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID).

Agriculture officials and cattle industry leaders raised alarm about the cuts at the time and, for the last several months, pleaded with the government to step in as they monitored screwworm infections moving north through Mexico—but they were ignored, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NBC News.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/06/04/screwworm-in-texas-cattle-could-drive-up-beef-prices-after-doge-axed-prevention-efforts/

Link to tweet

Yep. Whatever you do, Texas, don't stop voting for Republicans, because trans illegal immigrants with backpacks of fentanyl are coming to elementary schools with litterboxes, gay spray and lavender t-shirts tax cuts Tax Cuts TAX CUTS!!!

Last edited Sat Jun 6, 2026, 10:22 AM - Edit history (1)

This will effect everyone. The federal government should be taking the lead. I am in no way a supporter of ANY rethug, but I fail to see why you are denigrating the people of Texas. The issue is not that Texas votes R. The issue is that many Texas D's do not vote. It is difficult t pinpoint exact numbers in TX since you don't register party affiliation in Tx, but it is generally agreed that Democrats outnumber R by about 8 to 10 percentage points. By the way I am a left leaning Texan Democrat who votes on all elections from school board and up.

So, why aren't the other boarder states ponying up or better yet the Feds, since this is going to affect us all?

There is no need to single out Texas for this possible disaster.

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How many Texans are on DU who do not vote? You are preaching to the choir. And again, how is this solely a TX problem?

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Can competently deal with the problem they created, especially as their whole plan, their whole ideology, was to break government.

Wait until the first hurricane.

Texas CHOSE this.

So it IS Texas's problem. For the moment.

It likely will become other states' problems too in the very near future. And when it does, it will likely be other states who, as a state, voted for the man who is responsible for this happening.

With the wave of migration that brought a lot of warm mammalian flesh north of the 'front' that had been established near where the South American continent starts.

It reached Mexico in '24. And the Mexicans point to cooperation all through last year--and the damage done to their beef industry by an embargo on Mexican beef as of late last spring. Their fly production plant's on schedule but behind the need, which shows that either Texans' vote in '24 affected Scheinbaum's plans months before the US vote or something else involving planning errors that also affected Mexico is going on. Their plant's coming on line currently, nearing (the press reports) 90% output, but the fly has spread hundreds of miles north of it already. It was supposed to be front-line.

The next state it'll affect is likely to be New Mexico. Ever-Trumper land, apparently.

And those of us Texans who aren't crazy ass MAGA are going to suffer right along with the ones who are unfortunately.

Abbott gives good lip service to his base, but I have absolutely NO CONFIDENCE that this is going to be controlled as easily as some are saying. Locally, I'm hearing "aw, it's happened before", and "it's not that bad, hell, I pulled one outta my dog last week"....which goes to the mentality of some.

The last real impact from screwworm was in the late sixties, and life in Texas in the 1960's was a helluva lot different than it is now. In the 1960's, we had real cowboys who worked the cattle, knew the cattle, and knew what the hell to do. There was an honor system and they talked to their neighbors and helped one another out.

Today, we have more feedlots and corporate cattle barons who may not know a Hereford from a Brahma, yet make the decisions that decide actions. Those decisions will be made based on greed. There is not the same honor.

So yes, it is going to spread and become a nation wide problem - probably faster than many think. This is not going to be all about science and what there is to fix it and what there isn't. Some of this is going to be the ability to treat even when treatment is available. Finding, catching, applying and monitoring are just as important as having the meds to do the treatment. Wildlife will be affected without much anyone can do.

I posted yesterday about seeing a video from a rancher in Mexico who said he's never seen as many cases in companion animals as he has this time. So, are we looking at some type of evolution of the larvae? Hell, nobody knows what this is completely yet.

So, for my cat rescue, I'm buying up fly traps, fly spray, running fans on full blast, doing a twice daily inventory of any new wounds, keeping flea and tick meds applied just in case that does anything (jury is still out on this as per my vet yesterday), and hoping that the wildlife has a fighting chance as we've had some rain and grass is plentiful right now. So at least the deer aren't going into this skinny and sickly from the start.

It's not like it was planned in response to the first report earlier this week.

The push is for it to open sooner, but that may not be feasible.

Do keep in mind that it's northward migration is far, far in excess of anything the pest fly could pull off on its own. It was transported. Quickly. From south to north. Between early '22 to '25. (Obviously with the fentanyl, I guess. /snark off, since that's apparently required these days.)

Don't know what the countries between the Darien Gap and Texas did to slow it down. Perhaps nothing in some cases, dunno. Mexico's been as slow as we have been to get up and running.

https://blasinayasociados.com/mexico-controla-bichera-en-el-norte-y-busca-nuevos-mercados-para-su-carne/ claims that the area just SE of the sitings in Texas was clear of the "gusano barrenador" aka GBG and that the 'north' of Mexico was clean last fall.

Then again, it also talks about US/Mexico cooperation last summer/fall and an embargo on Mexican cattle imports (which was echoed in recent reporting on the high price of beef), even though I'm assured that there was no cooperation and the border was open for imports. So somebody's reporting malinformation.

https://www.prensamexicana.com.mx/notas-principales/gusano-barrenador-del-ganado-en-la-mitad-del-pais/ seems to give the north a pretty clean bill of health as of 1/26. So something other than little fly wings moved the critter north.

On the other hand, https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2026/06/06/mexico-impulsa-estrategia-intensiva-contra-gusano-barrenador/ talks about a sterile fly production facility that's just coming on line. The impression I get is that it migrated north faster than expected--Mexico was swamped before their facility was functional, and the US is the same. Then again it took a couple of years to get from the Gap to the Mexican border.

Because 'Murca, or flags, or ideology or a cool, kick-ass social media presence - you know, meaningful things along those lines . . . .

Roughly two months before the suspension, the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gutted the United States Agency for International Development, which included a program dedicated to preventing the spread of the parasite across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report from Agri-Pulse published in March 2025, which cited a list of cut programs sent to Congress.

The screwworm prevention program was part of roughly 5,300 grants and programs cut from USAID. The program also monitored outbreaks of avian flu in Asia, according to the report.

Musk called USAID at the time a “crazy waste of money” and “a radical-left political psy op,” claiming the government agency was “paying media organizations to publish their propaganda.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/screwworm-program-cuts-usaid-doge-elon-musk_n_6a220505e4b0a18aef0b1edf

Way less.