EXCLUSIVE Library literally split down the middle of US-Canada border will have to pay $215K in war with Trump over ban

Daily Mail​

25-05-2025

A library that straddles the US-Canada border has found itself in the middle of Trump Administration's border debate, and they're not happy about it.
The Haskell Free Library & Opera House is not a border crossing and never has been, but in March, it became involved in a political argument it didn't ask to be in when US President Donald Trump installed new rules restricting Canadian access.
For 121 years, the quaint establishment has proudly sat both in Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead in Québec, Canada, with the entrance being on the US side.
A clear black line throughout the building shows the divide between the nations, which politically, has grown much larger since Trump took power in late January and began calling the nation the 51st State and trying to enact high tariffs on them.
Come October 1, the establishment will be forced to bar Canadians from entering its main entrance, and instead, make them to sneak through an emergency exit that is now being converted into a real one.
Sylvie Boudreau, the president of the board, told the DailyMail.com: 'We don't know the future, we don't know what's going to happen.'
But she exclusively revealed that the renovations the library must undergo in order to work around Trump's order will cost an estimated $300,000 CAD ($215,600 USD).
In order to accommodate the US' marching orders, the library will have to undergo a huge infrastructure overhaul so its Canadian guests can still access the facility, which is governed under both countries' law.
The overhaul includes making the side door handicap accessible and creating a separate parking lot for Canadians.
Right now, Canadians are required to show a library card to enter on the Vermont side, but come October 1, they will have to go through an official port of entry to access the main entrance.
Canadians, for more than 120 years, have been able to access the library through a sidewalk leading to the front door - something that both countries peacefully allowed.
But now, signs in the parking lot warn visitors that Canadians could face arrest or prosecution or 'removal from the United States' if they do not have their library card upon entering the Vermont side.
Guests will also have to leave through the same door they came in through, as the library is not a port of entry between the two once-friendly countries.
Besides the astronomical costs, the library faces even more challenges as they have to appease both historical and heritage rules of both Derby Line and Stanstead, meaning the back door needs to be made of oak and other areas require granite.
And before they can do anything, they need approval... after approval... after approval on both sides of the border.
'Everything needs to be in order to these requirements,' Sylvie told the DailyMail.com.
In order to accommodate the US' marching orders under the Trump Administration, the library will have to undergo a huge infrastructure overhaul so its Canadian guests can still access the facility, which is governed under both countries' law.
They're hoping to have a design plan 'very, very soon' and aim to have the construction done by the end of July.
'Our partners are trying to do it as fast as possible,' Sylvie said, saying the library will be prioritized when the ball gets rolling.
In order to make the changes coming down from the White House, the library has started a GoFundMe since it does not have the funds to adjust to the new laws.
Sylvie, who worked in customs for 20 years, knew the closure was coming for some time. For years, US Border Patrol wanted to 'restrict and control a little bit more' and after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unexpectedly visited in January, she knew.
'I knew the next step was closing the entrance,' she said, before remarking that Noem was 'very cordial, to be honest.'
That didn't stop Noem from joking as she stepped over the thick black line showing the US-Canada border inside the library that she was stepping into the 51st State, a volunteer recalled to Stuck in Vermont.
'I worked at the border for 20 years,' Sylvie told the DailyMail.com. 'I understood their reason, but do I agree with them?
'We live in a scary world right now. It's the worst of the worst.'
She believes her past working near the border helps the library as authorities respect them since she does understand their job to a degree, but that doesn't mean they're willing to tell her what happens in the fall.
She's asked them if they plan on housing more border patrol agents outside the library and if they plan on asking patrons for identification upon entering and exiting the library.
However, she was quite firm that neither the US or Canadian agents will be allowed inside until invited and doesn't believe this is a political stunt.
'They can't do anything unless they're invited in,' she told the DailyMail.com. 'In the library, they have no jurisdiction.'
Haskell librarians and volunteers will not be checking passports or IDs of patrons.
'It's not up to the employees to check that,' she said. 'That's [border patrol's] job.'
They will be vigilant for crime happening in the library, as the Trump Administration has accused them of drug smuggling, which Sylvie said was false.
In 2018, the library did have a gun smuggling incident where at least two Americans hid weapons inside the bathroom for a Canadian to pick up.
Alexis Vlachos, of Montreal, pleaded guilty to smuggling backpacks full of guns into the North American country on at least two occasions. He was sentenced to 51 months.
During the pandemic, families unable to cross the border to see family used the library as a meet-up place - something that staff had to put an end to.
Since then, the library hasn't been the destination of crime, but 'every little incident gives them reason,' Sylvie said.
And the Haskell library is aware it won't win a war against the US government.
'It cannot be more in the middle of what happens at the border,' she said, referring to the fact that the library quite literally sits on it. 'I don't want to scare myself or my visitors, but we need to be aware.
'It's all new, this is a page in history.'
Despite being affected by the new president's border orders, the locals on both sides have been nothing but supportive.
'People are supporting us,' Sylvie told the DailyMail.com. 'People are rising above division.'
Many locals are irritated with the new changes, with Vermonters saying they don't like the upcoming changes.
'For the record, speaking on behalf of Vermont where the library is, nobody wants this. This administration doesn't represent anyone or anything that we stand for or believe in at this point and it gets worse day by day,' one person wrote in the comment section under a video about the library.
Jody Stone, the mayor of Stanstead, said the building is uniquely American and Canadian and 'something that everybody's grown up with.'
'The fact that Canadians could enter an American door without having to report at the border was something that was accepted and tolerated,' he told Stuck in Vermont.
'We need to make sure we keep it a friendly border.'
'I think it's awful that people are trying to separate books from anybody,' Beth Radcliffe, who is American but chose to enter on the Canadian side to avoid border agents, told Stuck in Vermont.
'So, trying to divide this library by nationality is just ridiculous.'
The new rules even brought together Stone and Newport Mayor Rich Ufford-Chase to figure out a way to keep the library a unified place.
'It really touched people on both sides of the border,' Stone said. 'If you live in a border community, you know the bonds that we have between our communities and this is a symbol of that.'