In recent weeks, it felt like the “Prince Harry could be deported” conversation fell to the wayside as the British and American media went into a feeding frenzy around With Love, Meghan. But they resuscitated it, because of course. The Heritage Foundation’s two-year-plus harassment campaign has come down to this: a Trump-appointed judge is now going to release Prince Harry’s “full” visa files. And by “full,” it looks like they mean partially redacted.
Prince Harry’s visa files must be made public by Tuesday at the latest, a judge has ruled. Judge Carl Nichols set the deadline to release the files which will give the clearest indication yet as to whether the Duke of Sussex lied on his immigration paperwork. The judge, who sits in Washington, approved the redactions suggested by the Department of Homeland Security and said they were ‘appropriate’.
While it is not clear what material will be released, it could include forms which indicate whether Harry said ‘no’ when asked if he was a drug user. Lawyers for DHS have previously said that three items will be released with redactions but a fourth must remain private.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation sued the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year after the agency, which oversees immigration in America, refused a Freedom of Information request for Harry’s files. Heritage claims that Harry may have lied on the forms under the section which asks if he had been a drug user.
In his order, Judge Nichols, who was appointed by Donald Trump, said: ‘The government has provided the court with its proposed redactions to the documents…those redactions appearing appropriate, the government is ORDERED to lodge on the docket the redacted versions of those documents no later than March 18, 2025’.
As someone who has followed Heritage’s harassment campaign since the beginning, this reads like a face-saving measure for both Heritage and the Trump administration. If there was anything questionable or noteworthy in the visa files, it would have been released and exploited months ago. Heritage has made this about “what did the BIDEN administration do to help Harry,” ignoring the fact that Harry most likely submitted the bulk of his visa application in 2020, when You Know Who was in office. Now, all that being said, the Trumpers are going absolutely batsh-t crazy about immigration, detaining and deporting immigrants with lawful residency statuses and green cards. So even if Harry’s visa issue turns out to be a huge waste of Heritage’s time, money and effort, the Trumpers’ reign of terror continues.
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