The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said on 24 August that USDA reopened the Douglas, Arizona port to cattle imports from Mexico, guided by overlapping safeguards and a science-based import protocol jointly agreed with Mexico [E1]. The page calls Douglas the first step in a phased reopening of southern ports [E1]. After that trial, APHIS will consider Santa Teresa and Columbus, New Mexico, for live cattle, bison and horses [E1]. Openings may be paused if USDA finds increased risk in Sonora or Chihuahua through post-opening audits or other observations [E1].
The protocol is the operating ledger. APHIS published a pocket card and an infographic with the same status page: multi-stage Mexican and APHIS veterinary exams, a New World screwworm-specific exam and approved treatment three to five days before APHIS inspection, tick treatments, detector-dog inspection, a dip vat and official identification [E1][E2]. Any wound or non-compliance removes the animal. A confirmed screwworm case closes the facility and imposes a 90-day export prohibition on the lot [E2]. Only Sonora-origin cattle were eligible at Douglas on the first day [E1].
Sterile-fly capacity did not get a new 24 August volume. Pacora, Panama, remains listed at about 100 million sterile flies a week. Metapa, Mexico, is operational and ramping toward the same figure. Moore Air Base in Texas can disperse up to 100 million a week; its production plant is still under construction [E3]. A $25 million Arizona dispersal facility announced on 29 July is a site-selection commitment, not an operating plant [E3]. SENASICA’s 20 August Sonora note described one confirmed myiasis in a five-year-old bovine in Álamos, with doramectin treatment and movement controls [E4].
Monday’s fact is a reopened gate under a written protocol, not a declaration that screwworm is gone [E1][E4]. New Mexico ports stayed shut. Whether APHIS keeps Douglas open through September, and whether a Santa Teresa date appears, are later clocks [E1].