Nidia Montenegro fled violence and poverty at home in Venezuela, survived a kidnapping as she traveled north into Mexico, and made it to the border city of Tijuana on Sunday for a U.S. asylum appointment that would finally reunite her with her son living in New York.

The US-Mexico border is effectively closed off to migrants seeking asylum in the United States within hours of President Donald Trump taking office, an extraordinary departure from previous protocols that has left many concerned migrants in limbo.

Hours after Trump’s inauguration, his administration canceled appointments allowing migrants to enter the U.S. to request asylum, leaving many of them stranded on the U.S.-Mexico border.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order saying the United States will designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that could push a militarized agenda for the border

Isolating U.S. companies from cartel activities could be almost impossible given that the criminal groups operate in sectors like agriculture and tourism, leaving some American businesses vulnerable to sanctions.

President Donald Trump called for the State Department to label Mexican cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations," a move that increases the reach of U.S. law enforcement over the criminal groups but risks complicating international business,