US blocks Canadian access to cross-border library, sparking outcry

The US has blocked Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-US border, drawing criticism from a Quebec town where people have long enjoyed easy entry to the space.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. It was built deliberately to straddle the frontier between the two countries – a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Canada and the US.

The library’s entrance is on the Vermont side. Previously, Canadian visitors were able to enter using the sidewalk and entrance on the American side but were encouraged to bring documentation, according to the library’s website.

Inside, a line of electrical tape demarcates the international boundary. About 60% of the building, including the books, is located in Canada. Upstairs, in the opera house, the audience sits in the US while the performers are in Canada.

Under the new rules, Canadians will need to go through a formal border crossing before entering the library.

“This closure not only compromises Canadian visitors’ access to a historic symbol of cooperation and harmony between the two countries but also weakens the spirit of cross-border collaboration that defines this iconic location,” the town of Stanstead said in a press release on Thursday.

US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to queries posed Friday.

In a statement to Reuters, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the US was responding to drug trafficking.

“Drug traffickers and smugglers were exploiting the fact that Canadians could use the U.S. entrance without going through customs. We are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans,” the statement said.

The department provided no evidence of drug trafficking or smuggling and did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.

In 2018 a Quebec man named Alexis Vlachos pleaded guilty in a Vermont court to charges relating to a plot to use the library to smuggle backpacks full of handguns into Canada on at least two occasions. He was later sentenced to 51 months in a US prison.

Relations between the United States and Canada, longtime allies, have deteriorated since Donald Trump threatened to annex Canada as the 51st state and imposed tariffs.

The library is a relic of a time when Americans and Canadians could cross the border with simply a nod and a wave at border agents, residents say. It was the gift of a local family in the early 1900s to serve the nearby Canadian and American communities.

A small group of American and Canadian protesters gathered outside on Friday.

Peter Welch, a Democratic senator from Vermont, called reports of the closure troubling.

“Vermont loves Canada. This shared cultural institution celebrates a partnership between our two nations,” Welch said on X.