The case over Prince Harry’s immigration status saw its latest development Tuesday when heavily redacted documents were released.
The Department of Homeland Security unveiled declarations from agents who said last year that they would be violating the former British royal’s privacy by releasing his immigration file, according to a report from the New York Post.
There was also a transcript of a closed-door hearing made available.
The hearing records, which pertained to the Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit about unsealing the case, were heavily redacted, according to the Post.
They did not reveal substantial new information about the case, and Harry’s immigration records remained sealed.
Samuel Dewey, a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation, said in an interview with the Post “there are hints” that Harry may have lied by failing to disclose his drug use as a teenager, the Post reported.
That means he would have violated the terms of what was likely an O-1 visa, used by those “of exceptional talent or ability” trying to enter the United States and filed with the State Department.
“The key information may be at State,” Dewey said.
“And if that’s the case,” he continued, “it gives us some insight into what may well have happened.”
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Because the O-1 visa application is submitted by a sponsor, likely one of Harry’s foundations, they probably argued that he has an exceptional talent such as his fundraising ability.
But Dewey told the Post that if Harry admitted to taking illicit substances in his past, then that disclosure would have appeared on his DS-160 file, which is sent to the Department of Homeland Security.
His paperwork would have remained with the State Department if he did not disclose the drug use.
Dewey contended that federal court filings in Washington, D.C., from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security show that the agencies are trying to withhold information from the Heritage Foundation and from United States District Judge Carl Nichols.
“While I have some of the ‘true set of facts’ right now, I don’t have all of them,” Nichols said at a closed-door hearing last spring, according to one of the filings.
“And I well understand that some of this information that we’ve been talking about today is not at DHS.”
The Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, has filed Freedom of Information Act requests at both the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
Officials at the agencies have cited privacy concerns as the reason for not releasing the documents.
But an unnamed source close to Harry claimed the documents show he was properly allowed to enter the United States, according to a report from Vanity Fair.
“Allegations that Prince Harry received preferential treatment during his U.S. immigration process were unequivocally dismissed today by the Trump administration,” the unnamed source told the outlet.
“Furthermore, the redactions in the case further weaken the Heritage Foundation’s claim that the duke’s immigration records should be considered a matter of public interest,” the source added.
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