A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed during a traffic stop in Vermont near the Canadian border was a military veteran.

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.

U.S. border agents have been instructed to summarily deport migrants crossing into the country illegally without allowing them to request legal protection.

Washington — President Trump invoked muscular presidential powers to begin a sweeping crackdown on immigration following his inauguration on Monday, tasking the military with border enforcement, moving to designate cartels and gangs as terrorist groups, shutting down asylum and refugee admissions and attempting to terminate birthright citizenship.

The U.S. southern border has seen a sharp drop in migrant encounters entering between ports of entry at the southern border, according to a CBP source.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has directed prosecutors to investigate officials who resist immigration enforcement efforts, intensifying a sweeping crackdown that Trump launched the day he took office.