US to spend millions to combat parasite along popular migrant route

An invasive species is reportedly on its way to the U.S. using a popular trek that more than a

million migrants walked to make their way through South America to the southern border

The U.S. is now looking to intervene in hopes of stopping the New World screw worm in its tracks

And that's why we're here today in McAllen, Texas to announce a bold new policy initiative

that addresses the deadly parasite called the New World screw worm, which would devastate ranchers who raise our cattle, our sheep, our goats, and our horses

especially and obviously if it made its way across the southern border

That was the Secretary of Agriculture announcing planes will carry millions of sterilized screw worms abroad

dropping them over known areas of infestation in South and Central America

in hopes of taking out the species before it reaches the U.S

It's the same method Mexico took to previously eradicate the screwworm in 1982

The U.S. officially eradicated the screwworm in 1966. For decades since then, the U.S. and Panama have been in partnership using the same method

dropping sterile flies over regions where the worms are heavily populated to prevent breeding

But according to U officials who spoke with Newsweek record human and animal travel through the Darien Gap is once again threatening the homeland agriculture The Darien Gap is a rugged path between Colombia and Panama

It's the only land route connecting North and South America. According to data from Panama, more than 1.2 million migrants crossed the Darien between 2021 and 2024

And traveling among them was the screw worm. The U.S. is now investing $8.5 million to build a sterile worm dispersal site at the former Air Force facility in Texas and will be ready to deploy in six months

An additional $20 million is being spent on already operational facilities operating in Mexico to increase supply of sterilized flies

Ports of entry are also temporarily closed to live cattle from Mexico to prevent the spread

The Agriculture Secretary said if the dispersal plan works, then some ports of entry may reopen in upcoming weeks

The screwworm is a flesh-eating fly that largely targets livestock and wildlife

Its larva is typically burrowed into wounds of living animals, but it is known to occasionally infect humans

with deaths reported in Costa Rica and Honduras so far this year

Officials say the flies have been detected as close as 700 miles away from the Texas border