Families separated by the border between the U.S. and Mexico were able to meet their loved ones in a "Hugs Not Walls" event organised by advocacy group, the Border Network for Human Rights.

Those from El Paso, Texas, were instructed to wear blue shirts while their family members from Juarez, Mexico, wore white to ensure that nobody was able to slip across the border.

The brief reunions are approved by U.S. government agencies as long as the participants stay on the riverbed that marks the frontier.

Undocumented migrants were at an event with hundreds of other families with mixed immigration status who were reunited with relatives.

After speeches from the organizers, both sides rushed together for three minutes of tearful hugs, embraces and excited face-to-face conversations.