Starting July 7, Douglas will become the first U.S. point of entry to receive cattle from Mexico after a border closure to prevent the spread of a flesh-eating parasite.
The Agua Prieta-Douglas crossing is the first of five ports of entry scheduled to reopen between next week and mid-September.
Notably not on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of reopenings is Nogales — a major port of entry for cattle from Sonora into Arizona. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Mexican and U.S. officials are still working on that reopening.
“But at least there’s a first agreement,” Sheinbaum said.
The New World screwworm parasite was first reported in a cow in Mexico near the Guatemala border in November but has not been detected in northern Mexico, where many cattle ranchers rely on exporting their products to the United States.
Unión Ganadera Regional de Sonora, which represents Sonoran cattle ranchers, celebrated the Agua Prieta reopening in a video message on social media to ranchers. But President Juan Ochoa Valenzuela said his organization is still pushing for the reopening of the Nogales crossing.
“Things are changing, and hopefully this will continue to happen,” Ochoa Valenzuela said.
The USDA said in a statement it’s still working with Mexican officials to make progress on monitoring and animal surveillance to reopen remaining ports.
