The Trump Administration’s Assault on a Library That United Two Nations
EveryLibrary stands with the communities of Derby Line and Stanstead and with everyone who believes that libraries should unite us, not divide us.
For over a century, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House has been more than a building. It’s been a symbol of peace.
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The Trump administration’s decision to end free Canadian access to the Haskell Library is a stunning act of jingoism and anti-intellectualism. It is a cruel performance meant to project “border toughness” at the expense of community and culture.
Built intentionally on the border between Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, this Victorian landmark stands as a monument to friendship between the United States and Canada. This library is a place where families, neighbors, and students have come together for generations to learn, read, and share a civic life rooted in trust, curiosity, and peace.
That legacy ended this week.
And Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is helping make it happen.
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No local residents, librarians, or officials called for this closure. The library’s own Board of Trustees, including a former Canadian border officer, has said clearly: the building was never the problem. For over a century, it has been a model of how shared civic space promotes respect, understanding, and real security.
Now, Canadians who once walked freely into their neighborhood library are being told to report to a border station before entering. It’s bureaucratic cruelty masquerading as patriotism, and a direct attack on the idea that libraries are neutral spaces where people come together as equals.
Secretary Noem’s hostility toward libraries is nothing new.
As governor of South Dakota, she tried to slash nearly $1 million from the state library system, a move that would have gutted literacy programs, interlibrary loans, and access for small towns. Now, that same contempt for learning has gone national.
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This is not about safety. It’s about symbolism and a cynical attempt to turn a beacon of binational goodwill into another pawn in the politics of fear.
The closure of the Haskell Library’s shared entrance is part of a broader pattern: book bans, classroom censorship, defunding libraries, and political intimidation of educators. From school libraries on military bases to public libraries across America, this administration has waged an all-out war on learning itself.
The Haskell Library has survived wars, pandemics, and generations of shifting borders. It should not have to endure this petty nationalism.
This isn’t just about one building, it’s about what kind of country we want to be.
Do we build bridges or fences?
Do we cherish learning or fear it?
EveryLibrary stands with the communities of Derby Line and Stanstead and with everyone who believes that libraries should unite us, not divide us.