Screwworm Border Closure Halts Mexican Livestock Imports, Threatening Lubbock Feeders

A halt to U.S. imports of Mexican livestock has pushed Lubbock Feeders, a 70-year-old feedlot in Lubbock, Texas, toward closure after row upon row of pens sat empty.

“By Tom Polansek and Cassandra Garrison LUBBOCK, Texas/SALTILLO, Mexico, June 6 (Reuters) - Lubbock Feeders has been fattening cattle in West Texas since Dwight Eisenhower was U”

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The U.S. government closed the border to Mexican livestock a year ago to keep out New World screwworm, and this week the first case of screwworm in 60 years was confirmed on a Texas cattle ranch.

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Reuters reports that the closure has forced the $100 billion U.S. beef industry to contract, while in Mexico’s northern border state of Coahuila ranchers like Enrique García have kept pens full and expanded to fatten cattle and process beef.

Kyle Williams, manager and part owner of Lubbock Feeders, said, “If they end up feeding and processing them in Mexico, how are we winning?”

Williams added that the USDA could resume imports safely with cattle inspections and treatments at ports of entry, and urged, “Let the cattle move.”

In a separate U.S. development, a judge blocked the U.S. Department of Agriculture from withholding tens of billions of dollars in federal funds from states unless they complied with the Trump administration’s policies on immigration enforcement, transgender people and other issues.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun granted a preliminary injunction sought by Democratic attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia, and said he would issue a memorandum explaining his decision later.

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Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell celebrated the ruling, writing, “These grants are a lifeline -- I'll always fight to protect food assistance for families.”

The Reuters report says USDA at the end of last year required states to certify compliance with federal “policies” to receive funding, and the attorneys general alleged the requirement was too vague and would require compliance with unrelated matters in Trump executive orders.

The case is listed as Commonwealth of Massachusetts, et al., vs. U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:26-cv-11396.

Reuters links the screwworm border closure to broader pressure on U.S. cattle supplies, saying domestic cattle supplies dropped to a 75-year low because of the ban on cattle imports from Mexico and drought conditions that fueled wildfires across the Plains.

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The report says the U.S. formerly imported more than a million cattle a year from Mexico, representing about 4% to 5% of all cattle sold for U.S. beef production, and that those animals were fattened at U.S. feedlots before being sent to U.S. processing plants.

At Lubbock Feeders, Williams said the business could lose more than $200 per head because high prices for animals sourced from U.S. ranches led it to stop bringing in any cattle months ago, and the feedlot’s headcount dropped to about 4,000 from a capacity to house up to 40,000 cattle.

In the USDA lawsuit, the Reuters report says the Democratic-led states and the capital district alleged the new requirements would jeopardize funding already approved by Congress to feed low-income families and support farmers.

The Reuters report also states that USDA’s conditions could affect nutrition programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the anti-poverty food stamp program, the school lunch program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.