US government accused of 'stonewalling' over refusal to release Prince Harry's visa records

The Department of Homeland Security has denied a conservative think tank's request to release Prince Harry's visa application citing privacy rules. As a result, the organisation has vowed to take the matter further to court.

The Heritage Foundation wants to know whether the Duke of Sussex declared his past use of illegal drugs in his visa application to the U.S.A. The royal had admitted to using marijuana, magic mushrooms, and cocaine in his memoir "Spare." The organisation said an admission of drug use can be a hurdle to getting entry to the country.

But the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to release the documents in an email response to the group on June 14. The email obtained by the New York Post read, "To the extent records exist, this office does not find a public interest in disclosure sufficient to override the subject's privacy interests."

DHS also replied that they "can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any records relating" to the foundation's request and cited "Section 3, pursuant to FOIA Exemptions (b)(6) and (b)(7)(C). Exemption (b)(6) exempts from disclosure personnel or medical files and similar files the release of which would cause a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

The reply continued, "The privacy interests of the individual in the records you have requested outweigh any minimal public interest in disclosure of the information. Exemption (b)(7)(C) excludes records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such materials could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said the DHS' response "shows an appalling lack of transparency by the Biden Administration." He said its "efforts to stonewall the Heritage Foundation's Freedom of Information request are unacceptable" and vowed to "contest" the department's position in court.

"We expected to have to fight every step of this case in federal court and will continue to press for transparency and accountability for the American people," Gardiner added.

Mike Howell, the director of the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, submitted the request on March 8 and requested records from Customs and Border Protection, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS, and the Office of Biometric Identity Management.

The three agencies denied the request ahead of a hearing that took place in Washington's federal courthouse on June 6. Meanwhile, DHS sent the email a week after being ordered to respond to the request by DC federal court Judge Carl Nichols.

The Heritage Foundation wants to publicise Prince Harry's visa application in an effort to determine if the U.S. government used favouritism in its admission of the royal to the country, given his admission of drug use.

The organisation also contested that the public has the right to know if the Duke of Sussex provided truthful answers when he applied for a visa. It argued that privacy concerns no longer become a viable reason not to release the prince's records as he has violated his own privacy himself by admitting to the drug use in his memoir and in various tv interviews.

Heritage lawyer Samuel Dewey told reporters outside the courthouse, "We are only asking for the records that are related to this question that has been raised about the drug use and admission ... he's talked about it, he's written about it extensively, he has waived any privacy interest he has in his drug use, he has bragged about it in Spare and sold that."

Prince Harry moved to the U.S.A. from the U.K. in 2020 after he and his wife Meghan Markle left their royal duties. They now live in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.