USDA secretary announces livestock imports from Mexico will resume in 30 days

DOUGLAS, Ariz. (KYMA) - USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona Wednesday to announce that livestock imports from Mexico will resume in 30 days.

Secretary Rollins said other cattle ports could open in the next 60 days as well.

Rollins credited the federal and local response, announcing the USDA will invest $25 million in a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Arizona in an effort to combat the parasite that is capable of killing cattle and other livestock.

"This is not a partisan issue. The ranchers, the ranchers don't. The cattle are not Republican or Democrat. They're not blue or red. The American consumers want to eat beef more than they've ever wanted to eat beef before? For me to be here and build the teams and let people know that we're here, we've got their back. They are our number one, my number one priority."

Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture

She also shared plans to have labradors, trained to sniff out larva, and inspect cattle before they cross the border.

The cattle ports were closed in May 2025 after the USDA detected an outbreak in Mexico, but in early June, the Ag Department announced the New World Screwworm fly had been found in a calf in Texas, and in the days that followed, more cases were reported, heightening concerns that the tissue-eating fly could be making a come back in the U.S.

To learn more about this, click here.