RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - One of the main border crossings between Brazil and Venezuela has reopened after a legal fight that kept it shuttered it for nearly a day. It was the latest salvo in a tug-of-war between a state government overwhelmed by hundreds of Venezuelans arriving every day to escape their country's economic crisis and the federal government and higher courts, which insist the border must stay open. The temporary order by a lower court judge stated that the border would remain open to Brazilians and other non-Venezuelans. The crossing in the Brazilian city of Pacaraima was closed Monday after Judge Helder Girao Barreto ruled it should be closed until a program to relocate Venezuelan refugees can keep pace with daily arrivals. That decision was reversed by an appellate court, and in a statement federal police said Tuesday the migration patterns had returned to normal. “The state doesn’t have the economic means to welcome all these migrants and refugees in a sustainable manner.”

Over the past years, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have taken refuge in Brazil to flee the economic hardships in their home country.
Brazil re-opens its northern border with Venezuela which was briefly closed in response to refugees from Venezuela.