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The Screwworm, the Scapegoat, and the Government That Cut Its Own Watchdogs
Power Is Where the Cuts Were Made
A New World screwworm infection has moved beyond the original Texas containment zone, with USDA now acknowledging cases in Gillespie County and even a dog in New Mexico. The Trump administration wants that story read as an immigration tale. It is not. It is a governance story, and the people with actual power are the ones who cut the monitoring system, lifted the import ban, and then tried to hand the blame to a predecessor who has not been in office since January 2025.
The Decision-Makers Own the Outcome
Brooke Rollins, speaking for the USDA, blamed Biden’s “open border policy” and the movement of animals from South America. That is a political reflex, not an explanation. The hard facts in the source point somewhere else: Biden had already imposed a ban on bison, horse, and cattle imports from Mexico in 2024; Trump lifted it in February 2025; and DOGE, under Elon Musk’s direction, cut screwworm monitoring and animal disease prevention while slashing 1,300 USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service employees.
That is not drift. That is institutional self-harm.
Blame Was Misdirected on Purpose
The administration’s framing tries to convert a biosecurity failure into an immigrant morality play. It treats the outbreak as if it floated in from the border on its own, rather than being managed by agencies whose capacity was reduced by the same administration now pleading innocence. The source also notes the screwworm fly’s lifespan is about 21 days, which makes Rollins’ attempt to pin the outbreak on Biden especially absurd. The bug is short-lived. The political smear is not.
This is the familiar move: weaken the state, then blame the previous government when the weakened state fails.
The Cost Is Already Hitting the Cattle Industry
The outbreak matters beyond the parasite itself because the cattle industry is already brittle. The herd is at its lowest point in 75 years, largely because of drought. Beef prices are already high. Farmers are also absorbing higher fertilizer and fuel costs tied to the war in Iran, plus more expensive equipment and repairs because of Trump’s tariff policy. Joe Maxwell, speaking from inside that pressure, called the outbreak serious and the financial position of producers even more serious. He was describing a sector already exposed to policy damage before the parasite ever appeared.
The USDA says food safety is not the issue. Price stability, industry capacity, and disease control are. That is enough.
Papering Over Neglect With Performative Action
Rollins did restore the live import ban in May and started funding prevention in Texas. But those steps came after the danger was visible, and the response remains too small to matter quickly. The source says the $600 million sterile-fly breeding facility will not be finished until late next year, and the flies currently dispersed from the Moore Air Force Base facility amount to only about one one-hundredth of what would be needed weekly to eradicate the pest.
That is the signature of reactive governance: delay, underfund, announce, and hope the headlines move on before the damage does.
The Pattern Is Larger Than One Parasite
The deeper story here is not a bug in Texas. It is a governing faction that treats public capacity as expendable, then relies on propaganda when the consequences surface. DOGE cut the surveillance. Trump lifted the import restriction. USDA now scrambles to contain the fallout. Rollins points at Biden anyway. That is not confusion. It is a tactic.
This is how institutional cowardice works in power: first strip the machinery, then deny responsibility when the machinery fails.
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