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A lawsuit filed Monday demands the US government release Prince Harry’s visa records given his admitted drug use, which foreign nationals hoping to come to America are expected to disclose in their visa applications.

The Freedom of Information Act suit filed against the Department of Homeland Security by the DC-based think tank behind the conservative politics news site, The Daily Signal, argued the Duke of Sussex’s records are of “immense public interest.”

Under US law, visa applicants “who are found to be drug abusers or addicts are inadmissible” as well as non-citizens who admit to using controlled substances.

Harry admitted to using drugs including marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir “Spare” published earlier this year.

“Widespread and continuous media coverage has surfaced the question of whether DHS properly admitted the Duke of Sussex in light of the fact that he has publicly admitted to the essential elements of a number of drug offenses in both the United States and abroad,” the plaintiffs, The Heritage Foundation and Daily Signal writer Mike Howell, said in the lawsuit.


  A US-based think tank is suing DHS, demanding the department release Prince Harry’s visa records. Getty Images for Global Citizen VAX LIVE A US-based think tank is suing DHS, demanding the department release Prince Harry’s visa records. Getty Images for Global Citizen VAX LIVE

  The organization, The Heritage Foundation, questions whether Prince Harry was inadmissible to the US given his admitted drug use. Getty Images The organization, The Heritage Foundation, questions whether Prince Harry was inadmissible to the US given his admitted drug use. Getty Images

The lawsuit even went a step further and questioned whether the royal’s status in the country should be reevaluated.

“Finally, the media coverage has surfaced the question of whether DHS’ decision to admit the Duke of Sussex into the United States should be reconsidered in light of the Duke of Sussex’s most recent admissions to the essential elements of numerous drug offenses both here and abroad in his 2023 memoir, Spare,” the suit notes.

Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle moved to California in March 2020 after deciding to leave royal life behind in the UK.

Legal expert and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Page Six that Harry should never have been granted entrance to the US in the first place.

“An admission of drug use is usually grounds for inadmissibility,” Rahmani said in March. “That means Prince Harry’s visa should have been denied or revoked because he admitted to using cocaine, mushrooms and other drugs.”

However, another expert argued the British royal was in the clear because he’s never been criminally convicted of any drug-related charges — or done anything to prompt Homeland Security to launch an investigation into his status.


  Prince Harry, who moved to the US with his American wife Meghan Markle in 2020, admitted to doing marijuana, cocaine and psychedelics in his 2023 memoir. Getty Images Prince Harry, who moved to the US with his American wife Meghan Markle in 2020, admitted to doing marijuana, cocaine and psychedelics in his 2023 memoir. Getty Images

“You’ve got to give [immigration officials] something that would trigger it, and revealing it in a book, that you experimented with drugs when you were a young man, I don’t think gets you there,” celebrity attorney James Leonard told Page Six.

The Heritage Foundation also noted that the issue with DHS potentially approving visa applicants with a history of drug use goes beyond the duke.

“While this case focuses on the widespread public and press interest on the specific issue of whether DHS acted, and is acting, appropriately as regards the Duke of Sussex, it cannot be separated from its broader context,” the organization said in the suit.

“The press and Congressional hearing rooms are replete with detailed accusations that DHS is deliberately refusing to enforce the Country’s immigration laws and is responsible for the current crisis at the border.”

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