{"id":4014,"date":"2026-06-09T20:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=4014"},"modified":"2026-06-09T20:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:31:09","slug":"usda-secretary-calls-miller-unserious-after-he-bashes-federal-screwworm-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=4014","title":{"rendered":"USDA Secretary calls Miller ‘unserious’ after he bashes federal screwworm response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (left) and U.S. Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins (right).<\/span> <\/p>

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U.S. Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins called Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller “unserious” after Miller made comments questioning the federal response to the new world screwworm.<\/p>

The comment came during a news conference Monday on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s response to the parasitic pest being detected in Texas. Rollins was asked about Miller’s suggestion that farmers would not report cases found on their farms amid concern that the government would impose a quarantine.<\/p>

What they’re saying:<\/p>

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“That is a very unserious comment from a perhaps unserious [agriculture] commissioner with just a few months left,” Rollins said. “It is also a very dangerous suggestion.”<\/p>

Rollins went on to say she had been in contact with ranchers in the state, especially in the southern portion of the state, and that they had been “patriotic.”<\/p>

“We’re all on the same team, and we have to solve this together,” Rollins said.<\/p>

The other side:<\/p>

Miller, who lost the Republican primary in March, called the USDA’s response “slow, bureaucratic and incomplete” in a release last week following the discovery of the screwworm in Texas.<\/p>

“For months, the screwworm has advanced rapidly through Mexico in spite of the USDA\u2019s existing gameplan,” Miller said. “Even though billions of sterile flies have been dispersed by USDA, the screwworm has still advanced over 1100 miles from southern Mexico to Texas, and USDA has missed an important component. Now that it appears the first screwworm has arrived in Texas, the consequences of that decision are now staring us in the face.”<\/p>

Miller is calling for the deployment of the Screwworm Adult Suppression System, which combines insecticides and sterile flies. The USDA is currently deploying sterile flies.<\/p>

He called on President Donald Trump, who endorsed him in the primary, to take direct control of the response and use SWASS.<\/p>

“I personally provided research and the SWASS bait formula to Secretary Rollins and her team on three separate occasions while the screwworm continued its northward trek to Texas,” Miller said. “Instead of using every available tool, USDA moved too slowly and relied solely on a partial solution that takes years to fully implement.”<\/p>

Federal officials are expediting the release of billions of laboratory-raised sterile flies, deploying ground release chambers to supplement the four million sterile flies already being dispersed aerially in the region each week. When wild flies mate with the sterile flies, no offspring are produced, eventually collapsing the population.<\/p>

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New World screwworm in Texas<\/h2>

Four cases of New World screwworm have been detected in Texas. The latest case was confirmed in a goat in Gillespie County on Monday.<\/p>

Three other cases were found in Zavala County, southwest of San Antonio, and La Salle County, northeast of Laredo.<\/p>

Another case was reported in a dog in Andrews County, Texas, but officials said the dog actually resides in Lea County, New Mexico.<\/p>

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