Tag: mexico

USDA set to reopen Mexican beef imports despite concerns over flesh-eating screwworm infestation

Starting Monday, the United States will begin gradually reopening cattle imports from Mexico after a two-month suspension due to concerns over the spread of the screwworm, a dangerous livestock parasite.

Screwworms are parasitic larvae of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly. Female flies lay their eggs in wounds or mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals, including humans, and those larvae then burrow into the animal. The larvae use tiny hooks in their mouths to eat the flesh of their victim and if that infestation is left untreated, an adult cow can die from it in just a few weeks.

Concerns were raised about the flies in 2024 after an outbreak was discovered in southern Mexico. Imports were restricted in November, then lifted in February before the screwworm made “unacceptable northward advancement” and the ban was implemented in May. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said at the time, “The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance.”

The USDA announced that the first port to resume operations will be in Douglas, Arizona. The agency said this location poses the lowest risk due to its geographic position and its “long history of effective collaboration” with officials in Sonora, Mexico.

To support containment efforts, the USDA announced last month it would open a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Texas and invest $21 million to update a similar plant in Mexico. That facility will distribute sterile flies that are grown in Panama. No sterile fly factory exists right now in the United States.

Secretary Rollins confirmed the phased plan in a public statement, highlighting efforts by the Trump administration to contain the pest.

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Mexico City Protest Against American Ex-Pat ‘Invasion’ Turns Violent

In a role reversal that underscores a universal resentment of economic and social impacts caused by a major influx of foreigners, demonstrators marched in Mexico City on Friday to protest against the city’s status as a hot new residential destination for American ex-pats and remote workers. Though it started peacefully, many demonstrators turned violent, with some of them accosting Americans and smashing the restaurants, banks and other businesses that cater to them.

Angered by soaring rents they rationally blame on foreigners, hundreds of protesters marched through Condesa and Roma — two neighborhoods that are particularly popular with Americans living in or visiting Mexico City —  and proceeded to the US embassy and to a metro station. Their signs expressed a variety of sentiments: 

  • Gringo: Stop Stealing Our Home
  • Mexico For Mexicans
  • Pay Taxes, Speak Spanish, Use Pesos Or Get Out Of Here
  • Death To The Neo-Colonizer
  • Expat = Gentrifier
  • Your New Home Is An Invasion
  • Gentrification = Neo-Colonization
  • To Gentrify Isn’t Progress, It’s Dispossession 
  • We Shouldn’t Feel Like Foreigners In Our Own Land

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Gunmen kill Mexico city councillor during basketball game

Gunmen burst into a sports hall in central Mexico and shot dead a local government official attending an amateur basketball game on July 5, local authorities said.

Families and children had gathered at the sports centre in the violent state of Guanajuato, where Mr Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, a city council secretary in Apaseo el Grande, was killed.

The city council “strongly condemns the treacherous, despicable, and cowardly attack that occurred this Saturday, in which our colleague and friend, city council secretary Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, lost his life”, it said in a statement.

Local media said an armed man had been arrested.

Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico’s deadliest state due to gang turf wars, according to official homicide statistics.

In June, 11 people were shot dead and about 20 others injured in a shooting targeting a neighbourhood party in Irapuato, about 80km west of Apaseo el Grande.

A month earlier, 17 bodies were found by investigators in an abandoned house in Irapuato.

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FBI Compromised by Cartel Hacker Who Gained Control of Cameras, Multiple Left Dead in Fallout

Unidentified computer hackers associated with the Sinaloa drug cartel were able to garner phone records from the FBI, then used Mexico City surveillance cameras to compromise key informants and witnesses so they could murder them back in 2018, a new report showed.

This information was disclosed to the Justice Department in an Inspector General audit of the FBI’s efforts to “Mitigate the Effects of Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance,” according to Fox News.

The report cited the case against Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who used to lead the cartel, but who was extradited to the United States back in 2017. While federal authorities were working the case, they were alerted to the hiring of a hacker “who offered a menu of services related to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices.”

The hacker “had observed people going in and out of the United States Embassy in Mexico City and identified ‘people of interest’ for the cartel, including the FBI Assistant Legal Attache (ALA T), and then was able to use the ALA T’s mobile phone number to obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with the ALAT’s phone,” the audit read.

“According to the FBI, the hacker also used Mexico City’s camera system to follow the ALAT through the city and identify people the ALAT met with,” the report continued. “According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses.”

The audit also highlighted how modern technology has “made it easier than ever for less-sophisticated nations and criminal enterprises to identify and exploit vulnerabilities created by” data from everyday items like smartphones and personal computers.

Some within the U.S. intel community, including CIA officials, described the threat as being “existential.”

This should send a message to the U.S. that computers have become the new battlefield. And we are still vulnerable in this area.

Even if the federal government expanded funding and continued using all the technology at its disposal, drug cartels can still gain the upper hand.

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Treasury Sanctions 3 Mexican Financial Institutions For Aiding Cartels In Fentanyl Trade; Sheinbaum Denies

Mexican President Sheinbaum has commented on the sanctions, denying any fraud and claiming the Mexican banking system is ‘sound’:

  • *SHEINBAUM: NO EVIDENCE OF MONEY LAUNDERING IN MEXICAN BANKS
  • *SHEINBAUM SAYS MEXICO ONLY FOUND ADMINISTRATIVE FLAWS IN BANKS
  • *SHEINBAUM: MEXICO ASKED US TREASURY MONEY LAUNDERING EVIDENCE
  • *SHEINBAUM: MEXICAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM SOUND, ACCUSED FIRMS SMALL
  • *MEXICO TRANSFERS TO CHINA COS ‘NOT MONEY LAUNDERING’: SHEINBAUM

Just a coincidence?

As Naveen Athrappully detailed earlier via The Epoch Times, The Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) sanctioned three financial institutions based in Mexico for allegedly laundering money for cartels involved in the illegal trade of fentanyl, the Treasury said in a June 25 statement. The institutions are CIBanco S.A., Intercam Banco S.A., and Vector Casa de Bolsa S.A. de C.V.

CIBanco and Intercam are commercial banks with assets worth more than $7 billion and $4 billion, respectively. Vector is a brokerage company managing almost $11 billion in assets.

FinCEN has determined that the entities launder money in connection with illicit opioid trafficking, and have “collectively played a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl,” the statement said.

CIBanco facilitated illicit opioid trafficking by Mexican cartels such as Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Beltran-Leyva Cartel, and Gulf Cartel. Intercam was linked to CJNG, and Vector with the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel, said the statement.

FinCEN said that between 2021 and 2024, CIBanco processed more than $2.1 million in payments from Mexico-based companies to entities in China that shipped precursor chemicals to Mexico. Intercam processed over $1.5 million during the same period.

As for Vector, the institution processed more than $1 million between 2018 and 2023.

The sanctions prohibit financial institutions in the United States from engaging in the transmission of funds from or to CIBanco, Intercam, or Vector. The prohibition also applies to any account or convertible virtual currency address administered by the three institutions.

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US To Open Fly Production Facility For Combating Mexican New World Screwworms

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins launched a facility in South Texas on Wednesday that will release millions of sterile flies to fight the threat of flesh-eating parasites that are infecting cattle in Mexico and could reach the U.S. border soon, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a June 18 statement.

The parasite, New World screwworm (NWS), is a “devastating pest that causes serious and often deadly damage to livestock, wildlife, pets, and in rare cases, humans,” the USDA said. Some U.S. agriculture and cattle industry officials are worried that if the migration isn’t checked, the NWS flies could reach the border by the end of summer.

According to the agency, NWS females lay eggs on wounds or orifices of warm-blooded animals. Once the eggs hatch into larvae, they burrow into the wound and feed off the flesh. As more maggots hatch and feed, the wound becomes deeper and larger. Eventually, it becomes so severe that the host animal dies.

A single female NWS fly can lay up to 3,000 eggs over its lifespan. As such, a large infestation poses considerable risks to farmers raising cows, sheep, and other animals.

In the 1950s, a strategy called sterile insect technique (SIT) was developed, which was used to eradicate NWS from the United States, Mexico, and Central America, the USDA said in an April 2025 document. SIT used gamma radiation to turn NWS pupae into sterile male flies.

When the male flies are released en masse, they mate with wild female flies who end up laying unfertilized eggs, eventually leading to the eradication of these pests.

“While NWS has been eradicated from the United States for decades, recent detections in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border, led to the immediate suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border on May 11, 2025,” said the USDA statement.

The facility launched by the agriculture secretary is an $8.5 million sterile NWS fly dispersal site located at Moore Air Base in South Texas.

The United States currently can procure 100 million flies per week from a sterile fly production facility in Panama. The USDA has invested $21 million in a production facility in Mexico that, when operational, will provide another 60-100 million flies weekly. Combined, at least 160 million flies per week are expected to be available for disbursal through the Moore Air Base facility.

In addition, the USDA is also looking at installing a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base to complement the new dispersal facility.

“The United States has defeated NWS before, and we will do it again,” said Rollins. “We do not take lightly the threat NWS poses to our livestock industry, our economy, and our food supply chain.

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Silvia Delgado, former attorney for “El Chapo,” elected as Judge in Chihuahua; links to drug trafficking expose flaws in legitimacy of New Judicial System promoted by Morena.


On June 1, 2025, Mexico held its first simultaneous elections for over 2,600 judicial positions, including seats in the Supreme Court, as part of the Morena government’s reform aimed at boosting transparency and accountability within the judicial branch.

However, participation was alarmingly low: just 11% in local elections and 13% in the federal race.

This low level of citizen engagement has sparked questions about the legitimacy and representativeness of the new judges.

Amid this context, the election of Silvia Rocío Delgado García as a criminal court judge in the Bravos Judicial District of Chihuahua has unleashed a storm of criticism and concern across Mexico.

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Supreme Court: US Gun Makers Not Liable For Cartel Violence

In a unanimous blow to gun control advocacy groups, the Supreme Court shut down Mexico’s $10 billion claim targeting U.S. gun makers in a cross-border lawsuit.

Mexico originally filed the suit in 2021, arguing that U.S. gun companies were responsible for the weapons that fueled cartel violence. Mexico received support in its lawsuit from American gun control advocacy groups such as Everytown and March for our Lives Action Fund.

The Supreme Court ruling, written by Justice Elena Kagan, found that the manufacturer’s alleged failure to exercise “reasonable care” does not meet the standard necessary to be found liable for “aiding and abetting” the sale of illegal firearms in Mexico.

Mexico had asked the court for $10 billion in damages and additional court-imposed injunctive relief in the form of restrictions on manufacturers. According to a lawyer who spoke to RCP, siding with Mexico on the injunctive relief “would have likely severely prohibited the distribution of the manufacturer’s products” within the United States.

A federal district court judge initially ruled that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act protected the gun manufacturers from the suit. In 2024, the First Circuit Court of Appeals revitalized the lawsuit. In response, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson brought the case to the Supreme Court.

The PLCAA, signed into law in 2005 by President George W. Bush, shields gun manufacturers and dealers from liability when crimes are committed with their products. The law includes exceptions which Mexico’s lawyers sought to invoke.

The original suit by Mexico, which named multiple U.S.-based gun manufacturers as defendants, claimed that Mexicans “have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border.” It also argued that U.S. companies were negligent in their sales practices, claiming that the gun companies “are not accidental or unintentional players in this tragedy; they are deliberate and willing participants, reaping profits from the criminal market they knowingly supply.”

In response, lawyers for Smith & Wesson argued in a filing that the lawsuit “faults the defendants for producing common firearms” and for “failing to restrict the purchase of firearms by regular citizens.” They made the case that “aiding and abetting criminal activity must involve something more than making products generally.” Ultimately, the Supreme Court agreed with this reasoning.

In reference to the injunctive relief that Mexico asked the court to grant, lawyers for Smith & Wesson asserted that the lawsuit was “inflicting costly and intrusive discovery at the hands of a foreign sovereign that is trying to bully the industry into adopting a host of gun-control measures that have been repeatedly rejected by American voters.”

According to some estimates, more than 250,000 firearms are smuggled from the United States into Mexico each year. In contrast, Mexico has one gun store and issues fewer than 50 new gun permits each year. The U.S. is the largest firearm exporter in the world, partly due to relaxed gun laws within the country.

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The Claim That America ‘Stole’ California From Mexico Is An Ignorant Lie

Recently, Katy Perry claimed on her Instagram page that California has always belonged to Mexico and is another example of U.S. racism and bigotry. 

That’s not quite … right. California, like most of the world, has a history that’s slightly more complex than will fit an average bumper sticker.

Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1542, there were more than 100 different tribes inhabiting modern-day California. Most were small, and the total population of the area is estimated to be approximately 300,000. 

Although there were some minor explorations and small settlements, Spain left California largely unexplored and unsettled for nearly the next 200 years. This was due to a combination of factors such as distance from Spain, the strained Spanish finances, and also because there were no pack animals, little agricultural tradition, and a food supply that was less than appealing to Spanish palates. 

By the late 18th century, however, the Spanish decided they needed to better organize their North American territories to preempt incursions from other European powers, particularly the French and Russians. As a result, Spain began a more robust exploration of the state and would slowly colonize it, setting up missions along the vast coastal areas. 

By the early part of the 19th century, however, Spain’s fortunes were changing, the empire was stretched too thin, and after a decade of fighting, Mexico gained its independence in 1821. The new nation included what is today Mexico, as well as California and much of the American Southwest, stretching east to Texas and north to Colorado. Here’s where the rub in the argument that the United States stole California begins.

The population of California in 1800 was approximately 300,000 — almost all natives — essentially the same as it had been for centuries. By 1848, however, it had dropped to half of that due to disease, which was responsible for 60-80 percent of the decline, and the Spanish working to death or killing the natives.

California, at the time of Mexico’s independence, was sparsely populated, with just 200,000 people, and that number was rapidly shrinking. For perspective, that’s 0.5 percent of today’s 40 million inhabitants. Add to that the fact that Mexico could barely be called a functioning country, as in the 27 years from 1821 to 1848, it had literally 40 heads of government. As would seem obvious, the governments were dysfunctional, had an incredibly large land mass to govern, little tax revenue coming in, and very limited finances with which to field an army to secure it, never mind to carry out the minimum responsibilities of a government. 

To better understand how dysfunctional and empty Mexico was, consider Texas. In 1835, Texas had a population of less than 45,000 people, 30,000 of whom were Anglo settlers who’d been given permission to settle the lands by the Mexican government. The remainder included approximately 7,000 Mexicans and 5,000 black slaves. Because of conflict with the Mexican government on issues from slavery to religion, in October of that year, Texas started a war for independence. By March 1836, it had declared itself the Republic of Texas. That could never have happened had Mexico been able to populate the area on its own or keep it from breaking away. But it couldn’t, so Texas was born. 

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Mexico Is Complicit In The L.A. Riots, And There Should Be Consequences

There’s a lot to say about the rioting and mayhem underway in Los Angeles right now, including the striking prevalence of Mexican flags among the rioters. Iconic images have been circulating online for days of masked men waving Mexico’s flag amid burning vehicles and wreckage, giving the riots a decidedly sinister flavor, as though all this is at least partly the work of foreign powers attempting to undermine the sovereignty of the United States.

In fact, that’s partially true, and it deserves some unpacking. Much of the debate and commentary in recent days has centered on the Trump administration’s response to the crisis, deploying the National Guard and the Marines to restore order in parts of L.A., and the reactions of California Democratic leaders like Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. mayor Karen Bass, who are essentially arguing that law enforcement itself is the problem. Others have speculated on various leftists groups that are in all likelihood funding and organizing these riots, similar to how BLM organized in the summer of 2020, in hopes they will spread to every major city.

But there’s another political player in this drama that’s gotten much less attention: the Mexican government’s ruling MORENA Party under the leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum. 

The first thing to understand about MORENA and the Mexican political establishment is that it’s essentially a criminal enterprise that has, over the past decade, merged with the country’s major cartels. Mexico essentially lost the drug war that began in 2006, and since at least 2013 the state has been so thoroughly infiltrated by the cartels, particularly Sinaloa, that today it’s difficult to tell where one stops and the other begins.

The cartels of course are not just drug-trafficking organizations anymore. During the Biden administration they figured out how to monetize illegal immigration, which became a major source of income for their organizations and networks. Those networks now include elements of the Guardia Nacional and Instituto Nacional de Migración, the country’s federal immigration authority, both of which were key players in the cartels’ migrant-trafficking operations.

All of that is by way of brief background. On Sunday afternoon, responding to the riots over the weekend, Sheinbaum said Mexican nationals living in the U.S. are “heroes” and denounced President Trump’s attempts to enforce federal immigration law.

“We disagree with this approach to the migration phenomenon,” Sheinbaum said Sunday during a press conference, as reported by the Daily Mail. “It’s not about raids or violence, but rather working on a comprehensive reform that takes into account the Mexicans on the other side of the border,” she added. “That is our position, always a call for peace, to not exacerbate any form of violent protest.”

Sheinbaum added that Mexican nationals in the U.S. are “not criminals” but “good, honest men and women who left to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families.”

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