Prince Harry does not have the risk of being deported to the UK on grounds of lying to the US authorities about his drug abuse as his immigration documents have been revealed Tuesday after a two-year court battle. A lawyer from the Department of Homeland Security said Harry’s visa application followed all the “applicable rules and regulations”. Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think-thank, brought the case against Harry, who is now a US resident, saying that he either lied to the US government or the government gave him preferential treatment.
According to reports, the six documents that were released Tuesday contain pages with blocked-out portions meant to protect Harry’s privacy.
Three years after settling in the US, Harry published his memoir ‘Spare’ in which he wrote about using cannabis, cocaine and magic mushrooms. He spoke about his addiction in his Netflix series as well. The think-tank alleged that given his tryst with drugs, he would not have got a visa in the US in 2020 — indicating that either he lied to the administration or he was given royal treatment.
The released documents included a declaration from Jarrod Panter, chief FOIA officer at DHS, who said that the agency determined it was not possible to release ‘any portion’ of Harry’s records as anyone with a familiarity with immigration law could easily determine Harry’s status.
Panter wrote that the US immigration “routinely protects from disclosure the nonimmigrant/immigrant status sought by third parties who do not have permission from the beneficiary to receive this information” but added that no preferential treatment was given to Harry.
“This speculation by (Heritage) does not point to any evidence of government misconduct,” he said.
“The records, as explained above, do not support such an allegation but show the regulatory process involved in reviewing and granting immigration benefits which was done in compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act and applicable rules and regulation,” he added.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are not in President Donald Trump’s good books. This triggered speculations that Trump might want Prince Harry to be deported but recently he said he does not want to trouble him as he already has a ‘terrible’ wife.
