Prince Harry's Immigration Records Unsealed, but Are Heavily Redacted Over Harassment Fears
The paperwork was made public around 4 p.m. EST on March 18, as Judge Carl Nichols ruled over the weekend that the records must be released by the end of the day on Tuesday. Judge Nichols ruled in favor of the Heritage Foundation's Freedom of Information (FOIA) request and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release the documents, according to court filings released March 15.
This overturned a September 2024 decision by the same judge, who ruled at that time that there wasn't strong enough public interest to disclose Harry's immigration records. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.C.-based group, was prompted by Harry's disclosure in his 2023 memoir Spare that he had taken drugs (including marijuana, cocaine, and psychedelic mushrooms) to question why he was allowed in the U.S. in 2020, when Harry and wife Meghan Markle moved to her home country from the U.K. with son Prince Archie (daughter Princess Lilibet was born in California in 2021).
Per The Telegraph, the 'heavily redacted files' outlined why there was not a strong enough public interest argument to disclose the records in full. 'To release his exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others,' the documents read. 'There is the potential of harm in the form of harassment if his exact [REDACTED] is revealed. Thus, there is significant privacy interest involved in the records.'
The matter in question seems to center around whether Harry lied on his 2020 application about past drug use, which he later disclosed in the pages of Spare. Because of redactions, what Harry wrote in his application five years ago remains unclear, multiple outlets report. Application forms for U.S. visas specifically ask about current and past drug use, per the BBC, and 'admissions of drug use can lead to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applications being rejected, although immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on different factors.'
Harry's visa itself was not released on Tuesday, and instead the 82 pages of unsealed documents are supporting declarations and court transcripts that pertain to the Heritage Foundation's case, according to the BBC.
Sam Dewey from the Heritage Foundation told the network that he believed the Department of Homeland Security has not provided all of its papers, adding that he is 'frustrated' and that this is 'not the end of the road.' Among his complaints were that Harry was given preferential treatment, alleging that the Duke of Sussex has benefited from his 'wealth and status' by being allowed to live in the United States.
In a 2024 interview with Good Morning America, Harry said he has 'considered' becoming a U.S. citizen, but that doing so wasn't a 'high priority' for him. Speaking with Will Reeve, Harry said of living in California, 'It's amazing. I love every single day.' When Reeve pressed Harry and asked if he felt American, Harry laughed and responded, per People, 'Do I feel American? Um, no. I don't know how I feel.'
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