Days after US-Canada border port announced to be closing, some are saying it should stay open

Some along US-Canada border want port to stay open

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Just days after residents along a tiny U.S.-Canada border station successfully lobbied the federal government to abandon its plan to expand the crossing by seizing a Vermont farmer’s land, some people are complaining they had no idea the port would close altogether.

The Department of Homeland Security announced last week that it would close the little-used Morses Line border crossing to avoid an expansion that would take a prime hay field from a farmer.

But residents on both sides of the border say they rely on being able to cross easily there between the two countries.

Franklin Fire Chief Justin Rainville says he never realized the government would close the port if they didn’t get the land.

But a son of the farmer whose land was in jeopardy says possible closure had been publicly discussed for months.