Cattle access across the Mexican border is reopening port by port, not all at once

The phased reopening of border ports for livestock from Mexico shows that market access is again becoming a matter of operational readiness, rather than a general decision about the border. The U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced that the Columbus, New Mexico, port will reopen to cattle imports on October 26. If animal-health conditions and infrastructure remain satisfactory, Nogales, Arizona, is scheduled to follow on November 30.

The move is part of the response to New World screwworm. APHIS ties each reopening to enhanced safeguards, continuing assessment of animal-health conditions, inspection capacity and the effectiveness of mitigation measures. For equines, which may again enter via Santa Teresa from October 26, the protocol includes inspection and treatment before export, followed by a seven-day U.S. quarantine.

For cattle, the announcement does not represent full normalization or an undifferentiated reopening of all ports. That distinction matters for the meat chain: the availability of imported animals depends on a specific entry point, its controls and continued compliance with animal-health requirements. A trade authorization and a physically usable transport route are not the same thing.

The practical consequence is more granular procurement and logistics planning. Operators relying on cross-border flows need to verify the authorized port, effective date, inspection capacity, health documentation and alternative scenarios. Animal-health management is no longer only a farm or veterinary issue: it shapes supply windows, transit times and slaughter capacity. The case also demonstrates that trade continuity is built through verifiable protocols, not merely through reopening announcements.