It is looking like Prince Harry’s immigration records will remain secret – despite concerns that he may not have disclosed his past drug use when he applied for a Visa to stay in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the Duke of Sussex has a right to privacy in regards to his US immigration files, even though he has divulged details about his life – and admitted to historic drug use in his memoir ‘Spare’.
The DHS issued a statement in response to an appeal by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that launched a legal battle to obtain Harry’s visa documents. However, the foundation has called the DHS response a ‘disgrace’ – and said it “suggests that clearly there is something to hide”.
Harry’s references to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare and on Netflix prompted the Washington DC think-tank to question why he was allowed into the US in 2020. It then brought a lawsuit against the DHS after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected – claiming the issue was of “immense public interest”.
The lawsuit argues that US law “generally renders” a person who discloses drug use “inadmissible for entry” to the United States. The official policy of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ is that visa applicants “who are found to be drug users or addicts” are inadmissible.
However, immigration officers are given considerable leeway to make a decision based on factors including the length and severity of drug use. Nonetheless, think-tank director Dr Nile Gardiner has previously said the lawsuit was about holding a high-profile figure and the US Government to account.
“At the end of the day, this is about accountability, transparency and openness on behalf of the US administration with regard to an immigration application by a high-profile individual,” Dr Gardiner said after a hearing back in June. It came after a judge gave DHS a week to indicate whether it would be willing to respond to, or expedite, the request for information by the think tank.
US officials have now rejected the request. Jarrod Panter, Acting Associate Center Director for Freedom of Information at DHS, said: “Prince Harry has not consented to the release of records related to or reflecting information about him.”
“Despite the public role that Prince Harry has played in the UK and despite information that he has disclosed regarding his personal life, he still maintains a strong privacy interest in his immigration status and information about him reflected in (immigration) records.
“Prince Harry has not publicly or officially disclosed his status in the United States and has not surrendered all rights to personal privacy.”
However, the DHS response has infuriated Gardiner. Describing it as a “disgrace”, he told the Mail Online: “The Biden administration should come clean over what’s contained in the immigration application.
“So far they are refusing to release the records which suggests that clearly there is something to hide. Prince Harry himself should support the release of his immigration records – if he has nothing to hide’.
“The argument that DHS are putting forward here is preposterous. ‘Prince Harry is one of the most public figures in the world today and he has extensively detailed his drug use in his memoir and interviews. He’s made this public and the American people have a right to know what he put on his immigration application.
“The Biden administration is desperately trying to stonewall the FOIA request and they are acting completely without transparency and accountability and that’s unacceptable. I think their statements are disgraceful.”
