Documents regarding Prince Harry’s US visa application are unlocked in court – but with heavy editors about the fear he would be exposed to ‘damage and harassment’.
An American court ordered the release of the documents on the basis of a request for freedom of information by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative American thinking tank in Washington DC, who claimed that the Duke of Sussex hid the drug in the past when he had to move to the US in 2020, which had to find a visa.
The claims center around revelations in Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir Promptin which he wrote in 2020 about cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.
The foundation argued that Prince Harry’s right to privacy outweighs an ‘intense public interest’ in whether he received special treatment during the application process when he moved with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, after retiring as senior Royals.
Application forms for US visas specifically ask about current and drug use from the current and previous. Admission to drug use can lead to rejection, although immigration officials have discretion to make a final decision.
In the book, Prince Harry wrote that he first tried cocaine at the age of 17. “It wasn’t very nice, and it didn’t make me very happy because it seemed like everyone around me, but it made me feel different, and that was the main goal,” he added. He also wrote about the use of marijuana and said, “Cocaine did nothing for me”, but “marijuana is different, which actually helped me”.
In September last year, Judge Carl Nichols ruled in favor of the DHS, saying that public interest does not outweigh the right to privacy of Prince Harry. But in a turnaround last week, Judge Nichols ordered the government to submit to the court docer by the end of Tuesday.
In the case, very little information was disclosed in the documents released. No details were given on what Prince Harry put on his immigration form. The released documents support statements and court transcripts created during the case of Heritage Foundation. They run to about 80 pages, half of which are re -re -elected.
A chief freedom officer in the US Department of Internal Security (DHS) argues in the documents that the release of Prince Harry’s visa documents “may expose the individual to damage to members of the public”.
The statement of Jarrod Panter, presented to the court in April last year, reads: “The USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] The non-immigrant/immigrant status sought by third parties, which does not have permission from the beneficiary to receive this information.
“To release such information, the individual may expose to damage to members of the public who can have a reason to manipulate or harass individuals, depending on their status in the United States.”
“Releasing his exact status can cause him to reasonable damage in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others,” he added.
Neither Prince Harry nor the Heritage Foundation could be reached for comment immediately.
President Donald Trump said last month he would not deport Harry: “I’ll leave him at rest,” he said. “He has enough problems with his wife.
