Story by Benedict Smith
A judge has ordered the US government to hand over Prince Harry’s visa application as he considers whether it should be made public.
Judge Carl Nichols told the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) that its arguments were “insufficiently detailed” amid a court battle over the release of the documents, stemming from revelations about the Duke of Sussex’s use of illegal drugs.
He ordered the agency to set out the contents of the Duke’s immigration papers and explain the “particular harm” that would be caused by disclosing them, the Daily Mail reported.
The DHS is fighting to prevent the publication of the documents after the Duke revealed he had taken cannabis, cocaine and magic mushrooms in his memoir – in apparent violation of US visa rules.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is seeking the release of his papers as part of a Freedom of Information request it submitted last year.
In an order filed to a court in Washington, Judge Nichols stated that the Freedom of Information law authorised him to review “declarations and/or contested records in camera” – meaning in private.
“Agency affidavits are insufficiently detailed to permit meaningful review of exemption claims… when the number of withheld documents is relatively small, and when the dispute turns on the contents of the withheld documents, and not the parties’ interpretations of those documents”, it said.
Judge Nichols gave the DHS until March 21 to detail “the records it is withholding and the particular harm that would arise from public disclosure of them”.
He said: “The court concludes that in camera review is necessary to determine whether the records in dispute come within the scope of the claimed exemptions’.
The Duke of Sussex admitted in his memoir, Spare, that he had taken a variety of psychedelic drugs that allowed him to see “the truth”.
Under their influence, he said he was able to see “another world where the red mist didn’t exist”, helping to escape and “redefine” reality.
After taking magic mushrooms, the Duke said he started hallucinating, believing a bin in a bathroom was staring at him before growing a head.
The Heritage Foundation has challenged the DHS for months to release his visa documents, claiming that the Duke’s drug use should have disqualified him from entering the US under “federal law”.
Questions have been raised over whether the Duke lied about his drug-taking on his visa application or was shown favourable treatment by officials.
However, last month a DHS lawyer said the apparent admissions in Spare could have been embellished to “sell books”.
John Bardo told the court that “the book isn’t sworn testimony or proof” that the Duke did in fact take illegal drugs.
“Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true”, he argued.
