The latest ruling regarding Prince Harry’s US visa application has been labelled “suspicious” by the same conservative Washington DC think-tank which initiated the requests to have the Duke’s immigration documents published.
Earlier this week, a judge ruled that the Duke of Sussex’s US visa application should remain private despite him admitting to taking drugs in his memoir, Spare.
Harry found himself in hot water after he released his memoir Spare in January 2023 and revealed he had previously used recreational drugs like cocaine, marijuana and magic mushrooms. Under US law, drug use can be grounds to reject a visa application.
The Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security demanding the publication of Harry’s visa documents following his explosive claims, claiming that the request was of “immense public interest”.
But in his latest ruling seen in court documents on Monday, US judge Carl Nichols said: “The public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the Duke’s immigration records”.
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The latest update prompted the executive director of the think-tank’s Oversight Project, Mike Howell, to say that the “Prince Harry scandal just got a lot more suspicious”.
He told Newsweek that the think-tank’s case is not over as they will seek to appeal the ruling, adding: “President Trump has already suggested that Prince Harry will be deported next year – and the case for that just got a lot more compelling! Americans deserve an immigration system with both secure borders and also fairly applied rules for high-profile immigrants like Harry.”
Mr Howell added: “It certainly appears that Harry was given special treatment… and now we know it for something so serious that it involves extensive redactions. Americans will know the full story soon enough… Perhaps, Mr and Mrs Markle will tell us what’s beneath the redactions on their next Netflix special.”
Judge Nichols’s ruling said: “Like any foreign national, the duke has a legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status.
“And the duke’s public statements about his travel and drug use did not disclose, and therefore did not eliminate his interest in keeping private, specific information regarding his immigration status, applications, or other materials.”
He went on to say the public’s interest in the disclosure of Harry’s immigration records is “outweighed by the Duke’s privacy interest.
“Public disclosure of records about a single admission of a foreign national in the circumstances described above would provide the public, at best, limited information about the department’s general policy in admitting aliens.
“And the marginal public benefit of knowing that limited information is outweighed by the privacy interest the duke retains in his immigration status and records.”
