A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to submit documents related to Prince Harry’s visa to the court for review after the department refused to release them to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Heritage Foundation has sued the ministry, arguing that it has a right to see the documents as part of the investigation into whether Prince Harry was wrongfully allowed to stay in the United States because of what he wrote in his 2023 memoir and admitted elsewhere to using cocaine and other drugs.
The foundation had specifically sought the documents to investigate how the prince had been admitted, as certain visas that would have allowed him to enter the United States require applicants to answer questions about previous drug use and drug-related violations.
Judge Carl J. Nichols of the federal district court in Washington ordered the department to submit the documents in question to him for confidential review to determine whether they should be released in some form.
The possibility that the prince concealed drug use when applying for a visa could have immigration implications, and exemptions he would have been generally granted would be due to the type of drug use he has described in public interviews and his memoirs , had been excluded.
“Widespread and ongoing media coverage has raised questions about whether DHS properly cleared the Duke of Sussex, given that he publicly admitted to the key elements of a number of drug offenses both in the United States and abroad has,” the foundation’s lawyers wrote in their original complaint.
The complaint cited numerous other cases in which celebrities and public figures such as soccer star Diego Maradona and singer Amy Winehouse encountered immigration problems or were denied entry because of alleged drug use.
The litigation began in May after the department returned the Heritage Foundation’s application, deeming it “too broad.” It did not reject the application outright, but directed the think tank to resubmit it and identify more specific documents for review.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan had been living in California for some time before his memoir was published, and he has expressed interest in becoming a U.S. citizen.
Source link
2024-03-08 21:58:24
www.nytimes.com