Prince Harry's US visa answers about drugs 'should not be disclosed for privacy'
Prince Harry's US visa answers about drugs 'should not be disclosed for privacy'
GETTY
Prince Harry's US visa application answers about his past drug "should not be disclosed for privacy", lawyers on behalf of the US Department of Homeland Security have said.
This prompted a Washington DC think tank, the Heritage Foundation, to question why Harry was allowed to enter the United States in 2020.
A Freedom of Information Act request on the grounds of “immense public interest” was initially rejected.
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Therefore, a lawsuit was brought against the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) by the Heritage Foundation.
The conservative think tank wanted the duke's visa application to be released.
However, the DHS lawyers said the Heritage Foundation “have not demonstrated possible government misconduct or any other public interest that would overcome Prince Harry’s privacy interest in these records”.
According to the DHS, the duke is “not a public official in the United States”, despite him being a "public official" in the UK.
Prince Harry is considered a private citizen in the US
PA
They did not reveal Harry's immigration status, however, they “provided the maximum amount of information that it can provide regarding the records it possesses”.
The 39-year-old wrote in his memoir that cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”.
He added: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”
The Heritage Foundation argued through their lawsuit that the United States law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry”.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US in 2020
PA
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The DHS responded by saying: “Much like health, financial, or employment information, a person’s immigration information is private personal information.
“If the court accepts Plaintiffs’ arguments, the Government would need to reveal confidential immigration information about Prince Harry, a result the court should not adopt.”
The lawyer John Bardo, on behalf of the DHS, added that no “publicly available information, shows that Prince Harry was ever convicted for a drug-related offence.”
Bardo said any suggestion of wrongdoing from the Heritage Foundation was “purely speculative”.