The Douglas, Arizona, port of entry reopens to Mexican cattle today, five days after the state of Sonora confirmed its first case of New World screwworm and four days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the detection would not change the schedule. Trade in cattle, bison, and horses with Mexico has been suspended since May 2025, except for a brief phased reopening that was halted the following July.
The sequence matters more than either fact alone. When USDA announced the reopening date, its stated justification rested partly on distance: the closest active screwworm case was roughly 325 miles from Douglas, detected in late July. Sonora's newly confirmed case, reported in a cow in the southern part of the state about 10 miles from the Chihuahua border, sits about 292 miles from the U.S. border, according to reporting from Phoenix public radio station KJZZ. The nearest known infestation is now inside the state the reopened port connects to.
