US officials block release of Prince Harry’s U.S. visa files in drug use lawsuit

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have rejected a request to make Prince Harry’s visa file public amid questions over whether he lied about his past drug use.

Lawyers for the Heritage Foundation went to court last week to try and force the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to speed up its response to their Freedom of Information Act request about the Duke of Sussex.

Judge Carl Nichols refused to issue an injunction, urging the U.S. government to give an answer to the conservative think-tank one way or the other by Tuesday (June 13)

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‘To the extent records exist, this office does not find a public interest in disclosure sufficient to override the subject’s privacy interests,’ he wrote. 
The merits of releasing Harry’s visa application were not discussed at last week’s hearing in Washington D.C.

It means the conservative think-tank will now have use further legal means to force the DHS to release the files.

In a statement posted online, the Heritage Foundation’s Nile Gardiner hit out at the decision.

‘This argument makes no sense, but is not surprising coming from the zero transparency Biden Administration,’ Gardiner said.

‘The Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to stonewall the Heritage Foundation’s Freedom of Information request are unacceptable, and we will be contesting their position,’ the former senior aide to ex-British PM Margaret Thatcher added.

Heritage is trying to find out how the 38-year-old British royal answered questions about his past drug use.

It came after Prince Harry confessed to taking an array of illegal substances in his recent memoir ‘Spare’.

Under US law, admission of drug taking can be grounds to dismiss a visa application

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now staying in the US as public figures since stepping back from the British Royal Family in 2020.

The details contained in Harry’s visa application could, the Heritage Foundation argues, spell trouble for his future life in the United States.

An admission of drug use does not automatically ban you from the United States for life.

Any denial of entry can be overturned after an in-person interview at a US consulate or official immigration office, where a waiver can be issued.