This probably happens more than we want to know. It's the 2nd type of story like this I've heard in a week:

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/...ection-live-beetles-lax-japanese-snacks/

Intentional or not, the import of non-native species can wreak havoc on an ecosystem.

I live near ground zero for two such invasions, the marmorated stink bug that hitched a ride from Asia in machinery packing crates to Allentown, the closest city to me. And the spotted lantern fly that came in on shipments of rocks from China to a stone quarry near me.

Both species are a PITA but the stink bugs especially so. And they do a lot of agricultural damage.

We have the stink bugs, when they first showed it was bad, thousands of the things would collect on the south side of the house when it started to cool down, I killed them by the thousands with the soap and vinegar spray, fun times!, lol
Last two years hardly any, this fall a total of 7....I don't know where they went, maybe birds eat them now, I know the turkeys do, theres also a predatory wasp that must of tagged along and hit enough of a population to work them over. Whatever I'm not complaining. Anyone else notice a decline in their numbers?

It's not just here in US. I read some where once, that many of the ports world wide are full of none native plants and insects. Been going on ever since ships went around the world with hitch hikers. Many invasive were purposely brought for various reason. Some ports they say now have more non-native than native species in the water.

Mac

I make a good chunk of money potting invasive Green crabs, they came here quite a long time ago in ships ballast water. they adapted quite nicely, like by the millions....
I sell them for Blackfish, (Tautog) bait sept through december . All I can catch. ...We'll never be rid of them.

I've noticed a major decline in both the stink bugs and the lantern flys.

Within a few years of their arrival we were thick with stink bugs. Same as you they cover the sunny sides of the house in fall and I'd kill them by the thousands with a mix of Dawn dish soap and water. We still have them but their population seems to have been reduced by 90% or more since those early years.

Same with the lantern flies. Initially thee were so many the nymphs would clog my pool skimmer/filter in the spring. You'd walk down a dirt road and thousands would be hopping and flying around. Something happened in nature, a naturally occurring chemical or similar (it's been a while since I've read the articles) that all but wiped them out. It's been at least two years since I've seen one.

Cluster Flies here.

That had to have been intentional

emerald ash borers here

The worst of it for me is the asian spotted wing fruit fly and marmorated stink bugs. The fruit fly has caused me tens of thousands of dollars of damage almost yearly to my raspberries, strawberries and blueberries and blackberries. I'm sure that since they arrived in 2008 I have lost between $100,000 to 300,000 in damage.

I forgot about them.

I believe they've killed about every ash tree in the state by now. I know there are none left alive on my properties.

Not an ash tree left around here. We’ve got some kind of bug killing our hemlock as well. Man it’s depressing to see.

Varroa mites, it's a constant battle to keep bees alive.

In the late 1800's-early 1900's northwest Arkansas was the apple capital of USA. Millions of trees in production (these were full-size rootstock, not the 1000/acre mini dwarfs planted now). Imported bugs along with other problems decimated the orchards. By the time they found a solution Washington had discovered the Hawkeye apple (better known as Red Delicious) and the rest is history. The fruit industry there never recovered from the bug invasion.

Stink bugs, spotted lantern flys , emerald ash borers, hemlock wooly adelgids ,beech bark disease,porcelain berry , mile a minute plant , bittersweet , the list goes on and on .We have em all here in CT

Those ash borers have just devastated the ASH trees here in IOWA, see huge swaths of dead trees from the road

Our Pa turnpike on my end has miles of dead Ash trees as you drive along the Pike, they have been dead for years. The ash trees still around are soon to be infested with the ash borers.

Our Stink bug numbers have declined greatly in the last few years. However the Spotted Lantern flies are stilll coming on strong in our area. Those invasive species have cost us billions in agriculture damage over the years.

The Dept of Agriculture boards foreign vessels. I once watched a female inspector go through every space on a Turkish ship. She found three or four insects.