U.S. officials block release of Prince Harry’s U.S. visa files

U.S. officials 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.

Prince Harry appeared at the High Court in London last week to give evidence in a phone hacking case against a left-wing British tabloid

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) 

But on Wednesday, its lead attorney Samuel Dewey shared a letter from DHS senior director Jimmy Wolfrey in which he refused to confirm or deny that had the Duke’s papers on file.

‘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 an angry 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. 

Nile Gardiner, a former aide to ex-British PM Margaret Thatcher, lashed out at the Biden administration for its ‘zero transparency’ stance

This is the section of the visa application that Prince Harry would have had to fill in order to get into the United States

Prince Harry admitted to taking drugs in his memoir Spare, which was released at the start of the year

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 have positioned themselves as public figures in the U.S. since stepping back from the British Royal Family in 2020.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were last seen in the UK together at the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II last September, months before ‘Spare’ was published.

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.

 There is a history of authorities releasing immigration documents about public figures.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website has an electronic reading room which contains the files of some celebrities.

The records for the late musicians George Michael and John Lennon are online, as well as those for the mother of U.S. vice-president Kamala Harris.

Since arriving in the country in 2020, Harry has struck up friendships with prominent Democratic Party figures such as former president Barack Obama.

He is also close to major Democratic donors including Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry prompting fears that he may become an ‘unwitting pawn in a highly political game’.

DailyMail.com has approached the Department of Homeland Security and a spokesman for the Duke of Sussex for comment.