A conservative think tank is demanding President Trump release Prince Harry’s immigration file, on the heels of allegations that the Duke of Sussex may have lied about past illicit drug use when emigrating from the UK.
Harry’s immigration status has already sparked a legal battle and a pledge from Trump, 78, on the 2024 campaign trail that he’d take appropriate action in response any false claims on official forms — after the exiled British royal family member confessed to taking cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms in his 2023 memoir, “Spare.”
Applicants for visas or green cards are typically required to disclose their history of drug use — and can face potentially serious consequences like removal if they are misleading — but a federal judge ruled against any disclosure of the prince’s application papers last year.
Now, lawyers and fellows at the Heritage Foundation are hoping the 47th president will override the court’s decision to keep the records sealed — by opening them up himself.
“I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,” said Nile Gardiner, who directs Heritage’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.
“It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. No one should be above the law,” Gardiner told The Post on Wednesday.
“Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use,” he added. “My firm expectation is that action will be taken.”
The Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this past February, requesting access pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to Harry’s visa documents to determine whether he made false statements about drug use.
The 40-year-old prince admitted in his tell-all to trying cocaine for the first time as a 17-year-old “to feel different,” following the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
“Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time,” he revealed. “At someone’s house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more.”
Trump in March 2024 said he would “have to see” if DHS was aware of the admission, which was revealed years after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle settled in Montecito, Calif., with their two children in January 2020.
“If they know something about the drugs, and if he lied, they’ll have to take appropriate action,” the once and future president promised at the time.
But Heritage was dealt a blow months later when DC US District Court Judge Carl Nichols sided with the agency.
“The public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records,” Nichols’ Sept. 23 order stated, agreeing with the DHS claim there is “public interest in disclosure sufficient to override the subject’s privacy interests.”
Heritage lawyer Samuel Dewey filed another motion in October to try to overturn the ruling, claiming in part that the publication of the immigration file “will help the public better understand how the Department conducts itself and how its officials exercise discretion.”
“The Biden administration went to great lengths to try and prevent the release of Harry’s records,” added Gardiner, wondering whether the prince and his wife had received “special treatment” for their liberal political advocacy.
In 2023, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation cut a $250,000 check to first daughter Ashley Biden’s Philadelphia-based nonprofit for women affected by trauma, according to tax filings disclosed in December.
“They have with the Archewell Foundation made all sorts of donations,” Gardiner said, “and I think that should be fully scrutinized really. … I think that should be an issue of even congressional scrutiny — their foundation — where the money is going and who they’re donating to.”
Other former federal immigration employees have cast doubt on Harry’s alleged misrepresentations even posing a risk to his stay in the US, pointing out that it’s unlikely the prince was asked point-blank about his drug use when applying for the visa and that a waiver could likely clear things up if there were material omissions.
Reps for the White House and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
