Prince Harry will not have his US visa revoked, despite admitting in his memoir Spare that he’s experimented with multiple illicit drugs such as cocaine, magic mushrooms, and marijuana.
Following the publication of Spare, the Heritage Foundation – a conservative think tank based in Washington, DC – confirmed it would be launching a legal dispute against the State Department after it refused them access to Harry’s visa application to see if he declared his history of drug use.
WATCH: Prince Harry talks about his ‘todger’ in viral excerpt from Spare
When the legal dispute was first launched, Director of the Heritage Foundation, Mike Howell, told The Herald Sun that “Prince Harry either lied on his application, which can be rejected over drug use or that he received special treatment as a royal and celebrity, which would be illegal.”
In response, a spokesperson from the State Department said visa records are confidential and therefore, “details of individual visa cases” could not be discussed.
And now, the details surrounding Prince Harry’s visa will not be made public for the foreseeable future after the Department of Homeland Security denied a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Heritage Foundation.
“To the extent records exist, this office does not find a public interest in disclosure sufficient to override the subject to override the subject’s privacy interests,” DHS Senior Director Jimmy Wolfrey wrote.
Director of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, Niles Gardiner referred to the ruling as “appalling.”
“[The DHS response] shows an appalling lack of transparency by the Biden Administration,” and that “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.”
Niles continued, claiming: “There are only three possible ways in which the Duke of Sussex could have entered the United States on a visa: (1) Prince Harry disclosed the full extent of his drug use and received a waiver; (2) DHS blatantly ignored the law; or (3) there is a privacy interest in perjury.”
“Ultimately the release of Prince Harry’s US immigration records will be decided in federal court by a federal judge. We are determined to prevail in a matter of clear public interest, on an important issue that matters to the American people: the application and enforcement of America’s immigration laws without fear or favor,” he concluded.
Whilst Prince Harry has experienced a small victory now, the fight to bring his visa application into the public eye looks likely to continue to federal court, with representatives from the US government potentially being called to the stand to testify.
It is believed that these officials will be asked questions in relation to whether or not Harry detailed his previous drug use in his US visa application as he did in his memoir.
Legal experts seem to be divided over whether Prince Harry’s visa can be nullified over his confession to past drug use in his memoir.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Page Six that “an admission of drug use is usually grounds for inadmissibility.”
“That means Prince Harry’s visa should have been denied or revoked because he admitted to using cocaine, mushrooms, and other drugs,” she continued.
WATCH: Mudslides threaten Meghan and Prince Harry’s home
But high-profile attorney James Leonard said that the Duke of Sussex is not currently at risk of having his visa revoked nor is he at risk of being deported from the US.
“I don’t see any issue with the disclosures in his memoir regarding recreational experimentation with drugs… You’ve got to give them [the US Immigration department] something that would trigger it, and revealing it in a book, that you experimented with drugs when you were a young man, I don’t think gets you there,” he told Page Six.
“Immigration is not going to do anything based on that. If he got arrested or if he got a DWI [Driving While Intoxicated], then we’re having a different conversation.”
