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WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2026 | SPECIAL REPORT & ANALYSIS
SPECIAL REPORT | CATTLE TRADE
Clarifying: Rollins Heads to Douglas as USDA Prepares to Reopen Cattle Border
Visit will spotlight safeguards ahead of the Aug. 24 cattle trade restart
Analysis · July 29, 2026
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins will visit the Douglas Port of Entry in Arizona today (July 29), putting her directly at the site USDA has selected for the first phase of renewed cattle imports from Mexico. Rollins will participate in a roundtable with members of Congress and hold a press conference at 12:25 p.m. PT, although USDA has not identified the participating lawmakers.
A test case at Douglas
The trip is more than a routine border inspection. It comes just five days after USDA announced that the Douglas crossing will reopen to Mexican cattle on Aug. 24, subject to Mexico meeting the requirements of a bilateral New World screwworm action plan. Douglas, which connects Arizona with Mexico’s Sonora state, will serve as the test case before USDA considers reopening crossings at Santa Teresa and Columbus, New Mexico.
Figure 1. Douglas is the first crossing to reopen; the two New Mexico ports remain under review. Source: USDA announcement, July 24, 2026.
| Element | Detail |
| Port of entry | Douglas, Arizona (connects to Agua Prieta, Sonora) |
| Reopening date | Aug. 24, 2026 |
| Scope | First phase only; Santa Teresa and Columbus, N.M., under review |
| Inspection | Full USDA screwworm inspection of every animal entering |
| Approved source states | Sonora and Chihuahua — Mexico’s lowest-risk classification |
| Nearest active case | ≈325 miles from Douglas when detected July 22 |
| Off-ramp | USDA may delay or pause reopening on audits, surveillance or new detections |
| 2024 trade volume | ≈1.25 million Mexican cattle before imports were suspended |
Table 1. The Aug. 24 reopening at a glance. Source: USDA; APHIS. Compiled by Ag Policy & Markets Daily.
Every animal entering through Douglas will undergo a full USDA inspection for signs of screwworm. USDA also has reserved the authority to delay or pause the reopening if audits, surveillance or new detections indicate that risks are increasing. Sonora and Chihuahua have been classified as Mexico’s lowest-risk states because of their animal-health infrastructure, inspection systems and distance from the areas of southern Mexico where most screwworm cases have been concentrated. USDA said the nearest active case to Douglas was approximately 325 miles away when detected July 22.
Why reopen while the pest is active
The central question Rollins will face is why USDA believes imports can safely resume while the pest remains active in Mexico and has already been detected inside the United States.
U.S. cases have been confirmed and Mexico had 1,792 active cases across 29 of its 32 states. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed 42 U.S. detections in two states — Texas and New Mexico — since the first domestic case in decades on June 3, 2026; nine remain active, all are in domestic animals, and no wild-fly detections have been reported. The confirmed cases cluster in West Texas, well east of the Douglas crossing; New Mexico’s single case was confirmed in Lea County, in the state’s southeast corner — the opposite end of the state from the Santa Teresa and Columbus crossings USDA may open next. The border closure therefore bought time for surveillance, sterile-fly releases and domestic preparations, but it did not keep the pest entirely outside the country.
Figure 2. USDA APHIS has confirmed 42 U.S. screwworm cases in Texas and New Mexico since June 3, 2026 — clustered in West Texas, well east of the Douglas crossing — while Sonora and Chihuahua remain Mexico’s approved lowest-risk source states. New Mexico’s lone case is in Lea County, in the southeast corner. Source: USDA APHIS, Confirmed Detections of New World Screwworm dashboard (accessed July 29, 2026).
Figure 3. Screwworm remains active on both sides of the border. Source: Mexico animal-health authorities; USDA APHIS confirmed detections.
An exercise in reassurance
That makes Wednesday’s visit partly an exercise in reassurance. Rollins will have an opportunity to show ranchers what inspections, holding facilities and rejection procedures will be used at Douglas. The visit also sends a message to Mexico that reopening is conditional rather than permanent: failure to control animal movements or meet agreed milestones could quickly halt trade again. That distinction is important because USDA is not claiming that screwworm has been eradicated; it is arguing that the risk can be managed through geography, inspection and continued surveillance.
The economic stakes
There is also an economic dimension. Mexico supplied approximately 1.25 million cattle to the U.S. in 2024 before imports were suspended, making the border closure particularly difficult for Southwestern feedlots and processors that rely on Mexican feeder cattle. Reopening only Douglas, however, will limit the initial flow, meaning the decision is unlikely to produce immediate or dramatic relief for retail beef prices. Its first effect will be to restore part of the feeder cattle supply chain and establish whether USDA’s safeguards work under actual commercial conditions.
Figure 4. Mexican cattle imports fell to zero during the closure after about 1.25 million head in 2024. Source: USDA trade data.
Industry reaction
Industry reaction reflects that balancing act. Cattle and meat groups have generally welcomed the phased approach, saying it restores commerce while maintaining inspection safeguards. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also supported reopening but argued that USDA should have acted sooner and must remain more aggressive against the pest. Those competing pressures — biosecurity on one side and tight cattle supplies on the other — are likely to dominate the Douglas roundtable.
What to watch from the press conference
The most important details to emerge from Rollins’s press conference will be the expected volume of cattle through Douglas, the specific inspection and treatment procedures, the conditions that would trigger another closure and the benchmarks USDA will use before opening the two New Mexico ports. Until those questions are answered, the Aug. 24 reopening should be viewed as a closely controlled pilot program rather than a return to normal cross-border cattle trade.
Bottom line
The Aug. 24 Douglas reopening is best understood as a tightly controlled pilot, not a return to normal trade. It restores part of the feeder-cattle pipeline while USDA keeps the authority to halt imports if screwworm surveillance turns worse. The signals that matter from Douglas are the expected volumes, the inspection and treatment procedures, the specific triggers for another closure, and the benchmarks USDA will use before opening Santa Teresa and Columbus.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report — and its map — placed New Mexico’s confirmed screwworm case in the wrong county. The case was confirmed in Lea County, in the state’s southeast corner. Doña Ana County, at the opposite end of the state, is where New Mexico’s cattle-crossing ports are located. Figure 2 and the text have been corrected.
Sources: USDA announcement on the Douglas reopening (July 24, 2026); USDA APHIS, “Confirmed Detections of New World Screwworm in the United States”; USDA APHIS New World Screwworm outbreak response; reporting on the phased reopening (Fortune, July 27, 2026); New World screwworm U.S. case tracker (dvm360). Figures and table compiled by Ag Policy & Markets Daily.
AG POLICY & MARKETS DAILY | SPECIAL REPORT | CATTLE TRADE — WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2026
