For 60 years, the United States kept the flesh-eating New World screwworm off American soil through a federal eradication program that scientists called a marvel of government. Donald Trump and DOGE dismantled the international monitoring programs that sustained eradication, gutted the inspection workforce charged with stopping the spread, and reversed a border closure that was slowing its advance. Now the screwworm is back— confirmed in Texas cattle for the first time since 1966 and spreading to New Mexico. Beef prices are at record highs. Cattle ranchers face catastrophic losses. The CDC has activated a formal emergency response. And the Trump administration’s answer has been to blame Joe Biden, dismiss its own critics, and downplay the growing health and economic threat.
WHAT IS THE NEW WORLD SCREWWORM?
The New World screwworm is not a worm — it’s a parasitic blowfly whose larvae burrow into the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. Female screwworms lay 200 to 300 eggs in wounds; the maggots use special mouth hooks to tear flesh and drill deeper, creating open, rotting sores that attract more flies. Unless treated, infestations are typically fatal in livestock. The parasite can also infect pets, wildlife, and humans.
- The U.S. spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars eradicating the screw worm — and it worked. Starting in the late 1950s, the federal government mass-produced sterile male screwworms and released them by the hundreds of millions, making it mathematically near-impossible for wild females to reproduce. By 1982, screwworm was eliminated from the U.S. By 2004, it had been pushed all the way to the Panama-Colombia border.
- On Trump’s watch the threat is back. On June 3, 2026, USDA confirmed the first Texas case in six decades, and it is spreading. A three-week-old calf in Zavala County tested positive. Within days: a second calf and a goat were confirmed in Texas, a dog in Lea County, New Mexico. Experts warn the parasite is traveling fast because infested animals are being moved.
- The CDC has activated a formal emergency response and is planning for human exposures. On June 11, the CDC activated emergency measures assembling a team of career scientists to monitor the outbreak and coordinate with local health departments. The CDC is planning for potential human exposure.
HIGHER PRICES FOR CONSUMERS, ECONOMIC PERIL FOR RANCHERS
Beef prices were already at record highs before the screwworm arrived. The screwworm threatens to make a bad situation dramatically worse — by killing calves, triggering quarantines, and further delaying the herd recovery that consumers desperately need.
- Beef prices were already at record highs before the screwworm arrived — and the infestation threatens to push them even higher. Beef prices hit record highs in May. Prices have climbed steadily as the U.S. cattle herd shrank to its lowest levels in 75 years — and the screwworm makes rebuilding that herd even harder, since young calves and their mothers are among the most vulnerable to the parasite. Containment measures, quarantines, and movement restrictions are further squeezing an already constrained supply. Barclays analysts say any relief on beef prices for consumers has already been pushed from 2027 to 2028 at the earliest.
- A widespread outbreak could cost the Texas economy alone $1.8 billion per year. According to a USDA estimate, livestock deaths, veterinary services, treatments, and extra labor costs from an infestation on the scale of the 1976 outbreak could cost the Texas economy $1.8 billion per year — and $732 million per year for Texas farmers alone. Researchers warn the full national damage could reach into the billions more if the screwworm spreads as it did during the prolonged 1962–1980 epidemic.
HOW TRUMP AND DOGE BROKE OUR DEFENSES
The screwworm didn’t just wander across the border. The containment system that kept it out required constant international investment, monitoring, and a robust domestic inspection workforce. The Trump administration methodically dismantled each of those components — while the parasite crept steadily north through Central America and Mexico.
- Trump killed the early-warning system that was watching the screwworm’s advance. In 2025, the Trump administration eliminated more than 100 U.S.-funded UN Food and Agriculture Organization programs — worth approximately $382 million — including programs specifically dedicated to monitoring and containing New World Screwworm in Central America.
- DOGE gutted the USDA workforce responsible for stopping it at the border. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service — the frontline agency for fighting screwworm — lost nearly a quarter of its workforce during the DOGE downsizing.
- Trump reversed Joe Biden’s border closure that was slowing the screwworm’s spread. In November 2024, the Biden USDA closed southern livestock ports following confirmed screwworm in Mexico. Trump reversed the decision under cattle industry pressure in February 2025. He then had to close the ports again in May 2026 — after the parasite was already in Texas.
- The production capacity to fight back won’t exist for another 18 months. The U.S. currently produces only 100 million sterile flies per week — roughly one-quarter of the 400–500 million needed for eradication. A new Texas production facility, announced in April 2026, won’t be operational until late 2027 at the earliest. In the meantime, the risk of a full outbreak remains high.
TRUMP IS FUMBLING THE RESPONSE
Faced with a crisis brought on by their own failures, Trump administration officials have deployed the usual playbook: blame Biden, dismiss critics, and deny that their cuts had anything to do with it. Meanwhile, RFK Jr., whose department oversees the FDA’s role in livestock parasite response and the CDC’s preparations for human exposure — has dodged questions about the outbreak all together.
- USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed Biden without evidence while ignoring her own administration’s role. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote on social media that the screwworm threat was “the direct result of the Biden-Harris Admin’s WEAK foreign policy agenda and FAILED immigration policies” — an assertion she has never backed with evidence. Experts say containment failure was likely caused by multiple factors, and it was the Biden USDA that implemented the livestock port closures specifically to prevent screwworm’s spread. Trump reversed them.
- Rollins dismissed Republican Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller as “unserious.” When Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, raised legitimate concerns that ranchers were not self-reporting screwworm cases for fear of quarantine, Rollins called it “an unserious comment” from “an unserious commissioner.” Miller has been among the loudest voices warning that the federal response was moving too slowly.
- Rollins insisted staffing cuts had “zero impact” on the response — even as the crisis deepened. Despite the APHIS workforce being cut by nearly a quarter, Rollins claimed that “There has been zero impact to this mission area, specifically to the screwworm, based on that reduction in force.” The parasite spread to a second state the same week.
- RFK Jr. dodged questions about the outbreak entirely. While screwworm cases multiplied, Kennedy held a June 8 press conference to announce that 19 medical schools had signed a nutrition education pledge. When a reporter asked about the flesh-eating parasite, Kennedy and his team refused to discuss it.
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