The Heritage Foundation has been on a crusade against Prince Harry for more than a year. Heritage keeps suing the Department of Homeland Security to get access to Harry’s visa application. It’s utterly bizarre, because Heritage’s whole case hinges on “Harry possibly lied on the application.” They have zero evidence that Harry actually lied and their lawsuit is a fishing expedition. DHS and the Biden administration have made it clear that Harry will not be deported and even British royalists admit that the whole thing is a witch hunt (a witch hunt which Harry “invited”). Not to mention, Heritage is explicitly taking this issue to court to provide content for the British media. “Harry could be deported” is a story the British media has invested in completely. Speaking of, the Telegraph had yet another update, complete with Heritage’s version of what DHS has argued to the court.
The Biden administration has pleaded with a court to keep a law enforcement document relating to Prince Harry’s visa application under wraps. Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security claimed there would be a “stigma attached” if the documents were released.
The Heritage Foundation has filed a freedom of information application demanding to see the records related to the Prince’s visa application in March 2020. However, the foundation’s application has been repeatedly blocked by the department on the grounds of the Prince’s entitlement to privacy.
During February’s hearing, the court challenged John Bardo, the department’s lawyer, on the justification for not publishing its records.
“Many of these records, your honour, are law enforcement records,” Mr Bardo replied. “So there is a stigma associated with being mentioned in a law enforcement record.”
Mr Bardo added that publishing the files would expose “confidential law enforcement tools”.
He continued: “The government has cited multiple cases in its brief about the private nature of immigration records and about the fact that people who are public figures still maintain their privacy interests.”The fate of the Prince has also become a political issue, with Donald Trump saying in March he would take “appropriate action” if the Prince was found to have lied about his drug use in his immigration application. However, Jane Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK, when asked about whether the Prince risked deportation, told Sky News: “It’s not gonna happen in the Biden administration.”
Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation told The Telegraph there was a clear public interest in the release of Prince Harry’s immigration records. “The American people have a right to know whether he was honest and truthful in his application. It is vital that the rule of law be enforced in all immigration cases. No one should be above the law, even a celebrity member of the Royal family. Everyone should be held to account and that includes Prince Harry.”
So the Telegraph is currently running a story about an argument made by a DHS lawyer in February about how DHS/immigration records cannot be subject to FOIA requests because there’s law enforcement information in those files. The Telegraph is trying to make it sound like Harry was under suspicion or investigation for something, when really, DHS is a law enforcement agency. All of their records are law enforcement records. All of ICE’s records are law-enforcement records. And I agree with the DHS lawyer, that those records should not be made public unless there’s evidence to suggest that someone actually committed a crime.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex arrives for the annual WellChild Awards 2023 at the Hurlingham Club in London. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 07 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duke of Sussex gives a speech, as host Gaby Roslin looks on, during the annual WellChild Awards 2023, at the Hurlingham Club. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 07 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attending the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: Whistler, Canada When: 14 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attending the second day of the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square. Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Whistler, Canada When: 15 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The Duke of Sussex during the awards ceremony after he played in a polo match during the Royal Salute Polo Challenge, to benefit Sentebale, at The USPA National Polo Center Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke Of Sussex Where: Wellington, Florida, United States When: 12 Apr 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Prince Harry Duke of Sussex attending a St Paul’s Cathedral service to mark the Invictus Games’ tenth anniversary in London, UK. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Guests attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attending a St Paul’s Cathedral service to mark the Invictus Games’ tenth anniversary Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
My god anything to besmirch Harry’s character just because he admitted in his book that used a drug to help with his mental health and he may have used pot which most people have used. There are lots of people who have come over her to live and have used pot. John Lennon was one.
David Bowie did use more drugs (mostly cocaine) and quietly lived in NYC for some time.
Yes there are many who have but Harry’s loving (not) family will use anyone they can to help them punish Harry for being better than them.
Adele and other British nationals living in US must be asking WTF.
I hope the judge hands the heritage foundation their asses for all of this. 🤞🏼🙏🏼 I want a scathing reprimand when the decision is made.
I want all the money this has cost taxpayers to be reimbursed. The Heritage Foundation obviously has lots of money. They can pay us for this ridiculous waste of time.
If they lose this case, they definitely should reimburse the US government for a frivolous and time-wasting lawsuit that shouldn’t have been brought in the first place.
@Hypocrisy … What’s so ironic about this Heritage Foundation campaign fueled by the notion that “The American people have a right to know whether he [Prince Harry] was honest and truthful in his application” is that Nile Gardiner is British. He is a Fox News Network regular and has deep ties to the British media–namely, The Telegraph.
Two words. Ozzy Osbourne.
Two more words: Keith Richards.
Back in the early ’80s, Keith Richards had a place just down the hall from my family (in NYC). My dad says he was the best neighbor they ever had.
But yeah, DHS/immigration generally do not give a f–k about past or even current drug use, because it would be futile. Unless you’re a active DEALER, you’re probably safe.
Doesn’t Justin Bieber, who is Canadian have DUI?
And two more:
Nile Gardiner.
He’s a Brit, has been living in the US for some time. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind having his application made public. Plus all the unsavory work he did for noun, verb, 9/11 aka RG. Plus the Federalist Society, and the Torygraph and similar right-wing publications and think-tanks. In addition to the things he does for THF.
Ah, yes. Thatcher’s former tea boy, lol! He with the bonkers anti-Meghan fixation. Sane Brits regard him as thoroughly repellent – some Thatcher admirers I know say she’d be appalled by how he’s turned out. Surprising that THF doesn’t realise he’s a liability that damages the – albeit very limited (!) – credibility it may have in some quarters.
One word:
Melania Trump
Don’t forget Melania’s parents.
The British press is just hungry for information about Harry and Meghan and yet we’re being made to believe that their comms team is very friendly with the Telegraph. Harry and Meghan have got to realise that the nobody in the British press is on their side and that the Telegraph and other British papers are behind this effort to get him deported.
The Sussex comms team is NOT ‘friendly’ with The Telegraph. I suspect that the Sussexes only left The Telegraph off their list of Brit tabs they won’t talk to simply because Harry is very friendly with Byrony Gordon, who AFAIK, is still a reporter for The Telegraph because, ya know, she’s gotta have income to pay her bills and such! 🤷🏽♀️ Byrony is a decent journalist who has been upfront and fair in her reporting about H&M. She is the reporter who broke the Prince Harry mental health Q&A in 2017.
Byrony has also written about her own personal struggles with mental health. Moreover, Byrony visited the Sussexes in Montecito in 2023 for another Harry Q&A post-Spare’s record-setting sales. This particular Q&A (‘A Cup of Tea with Prince Harry’) was published on Byrony’s personal blog on Substack, ‘All Is Well, My Darling,’ rather than in The Telegraph.
This is a politically motivated PR scam by THF. If successful, very dangerous for all Americans re: their private, personal info currently protected by law, including medical records, etc. What a precedent it would set. Basically, it’s a test case that’s being wickedly personalised. Whatever’s in anyone’s visa application should never see the light of day in a public arena, on principle.
Yes, dangerous for every American! The HF’s claims are based on suspicion and not on evidence of a crime to support that suspicion.
There is no legitimate public interest in Harry’s records. In my view there is a legitimate public interest in the immigration records of Melania trump and her parents.
No. There is no legitimate public interest in any immigration record unless someone is a convicted criminal.
Law enforcement records, yes DHS falls under that purview so they all qualify.
But I also wonder if there are not records of the threats Harry faced, as a reason to speed up the process. If those come out in the US in this way (his case in Britain doesn’t seem to generate as much major public interest so I’m not sure that the public understands the threats they faced) , his father “the king” will look like gutter trash.
Nobody is above the law! I am all for it.
Immigration law for all applicants are treated privately, so H is not treated differently as anybody else. Disclosing H’s immigration records would create a precedence which could have wider ramifications. As people pointed out on this site other celebrities admitted drug abuse and still received visas.
I am looking forward for Nile Gardner to campaign for Charles to abide by UK’s tax laws, paying inheritance tax, and by Freedom of Information laws.
Not to mention Andrew.
I’m so glad they worded it this way. It is law enforcement info. It’s how I feel about the states selling their voter and driver records. It’s how I feel about those people search websites with too much info. AND it’s how I feel about apartment complexes listing lease creations on credit reports.
Someone found me by running a credit report or background. For months I couldn’t figure out how they did it. The apartment complex (e rose and sons) company I moved to Submits the lease creation to different companies. They don’t list the apartment on background report which is the only thing that helped me. They do list the apartment on the credit report. If I knew how many places they submit info I never would’ve signed up.
Harry applied for a visa he didn’t apply for all his info to be released.
I also just love how the defence is dismantling a very stupid argument made constantly by the British tabloid press: that a public figure cannot possibly have any sort of privacy (except when the press deems it merited). Because a celebrity made a public appearance with a boyfriend to promote her film, for instance, the press is ENTITLED to publish the fact that she had an abortion.
It’s a paralyzingly stupid argument. Catatonically stupid. EVERYONE has privacy rights that are in no way qualified by the nature of their work. And this sort of argument is often deeply misogynistic because it’s frequently applied to women – see, for instance, a judge telling Pamela Anderson that a third party could steal and publish her sex tapes from her house without her consent, because she had posed nude in a magazine once.
It’s gross, inside and out. But as the defence is reminding the public, public figures are actually entitled to privacy.
Harry is a private citizen with public recognition and not supported by any tax/public funds by either country. They need to leave him alone!
More stupidity. Honestly as an American I’m genuinely offended that a right wing british think tank like the Heritage foundation keeps wasting an American court’s time and money on this stupidity and that they are doing it so that British tabloids can make money.
Its not enough that their right wing government wastes british tax payer funds on supporting useless royals but now they are wasting American tax payer funds?? Its so obvious this is authorized by BP in order to help their pet press get negative stories about Harry. They are literally wasting our money on a case that will go no where just to line the British tabloid’s pockets.
I hope the courts make the Heritage foundation pay all legal fees and slap them with a frivolous lawsuit fine.
Also, The Heritage Foundation puts out a dictionary that leans right and is not very good. I don’t recommend it.
I wish we could get an attorney who would file an affidavit with thousands of names of Americans who do NOT need to know what is in immigration records. I don’t like that the British (not all) is going after this in the US. Why don’t they go and find one of the white Commowealth countries to go after something like this? They have no business messing around in the US’s immigration records.
Yeah, I’m wondering why there isn’t an amicus brief, or two, from people who should know, telling the judge to dismiss this BS suit.
It should have been thrown out ages ago. As for their public interest argument, I would counter Melania’s visa application especially as she was granted the “Einstein” visa is far a greater a public interest story.
The hidden hook is the precedent it would set if visa applications of high profile persons were suddenly deemed public interest.