The U.S. will limit Canadian access to the library on the border between Vermont and Quebe, where Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a jibe about Canada becoming the “51st state.”
Almost two months after Noem’s comments at the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, which straddles the border of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, the U.S. government has made the “unilateral decision” to stop allowing Canadians to enter the building from the U.S. side without going through customs, according to library and Stanstead officials, the Boston Globe reported.
The president of the library’s board of trustees, Sylvie Boudreau, called the decision “really sad” when speaking to the Globe.
“But we’re going to rise above all this,” Boudreau, who lives in Canada, added.
She told the paper that she was asked to attend a meeting on Tuesday outside the library by a U.S. Border Patrol official who told her that from Monday, only library members and staff would be allowed to enter the building directly from the Canadian side. The official told Boudreau that as of October 1, nobody would be allowed to pass without going through customs.
“I am disappointed by the change in U.S.-Canada relations, something that locals on both sides of the border have been used to,” Stanstead Mayor Jody Stone told the Globe.
This comes after Noem visited the library on January 30. The secretary stopped at the library after visiting Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom following a deadly shooting of a Border Patrol agent in the area.
Two witnesses told the Globe that Noem stepped across a piece of electrical tape marking the border inside the building and made a comment about Canada becoming the “51st state,” as often stated by President Donald Trump.
Library Executive Director Deborah Bishop said, “She stood on the American side and said, ‘USA No. 1.’ Then she crossed the line and said, ‘The 51st state.’”
“She did it at least three times and was very clear in saying, ‘USA No. 1,’ and didn’t even say ‘Canada.’ Just, ‘The 51st state,’” she added.
The incident enraged officials at the library, many of whom are Canadian.
Boudreau told the paper that during Noem’s visit, U.S. border officials briefed the secretary on what the library president said was an exaggerated version of security problems connected to the building.
Federal prosecutors have stated that in 2011, smugglers used the bathrooms in the building to get firearms from the U.S. to Canada. Some people prohibited from crossing the border have used the library to reconnect with family for short periods of time, however, that practice is now banned.
“The afternoon spent at the US/Canadian border reaffirmed President Trump and my commitment to secure ALL of our border,” Noem wrote on social media following her visit.
