Prince Harry's Visa Case Is Set For First Court Hearing Under President Trump's Administration

Prince Harry's U.S. residency is under scrutiny, as his visa records will be reviewed in a court hearing on February 5.

This comes after months of The Heritage Foundation calling for the release of the royal's immigration documents amid claims that he lied on his application about his past drug use.

While a judge previously ruled that Prince Harry's records should remain private, the think tank is now urging President Donald Trump to intervene.

Harry's residency in the U.S. is once again under legal scrutiny. According to the Daily Mail, federal Judge Carl J. Nichols has scheduled a hearing for February 5 in Washington, D.C., where the Duke of Sussex and the Heritage Foundation will present their arguments.

The controversy surrounding Harry's visa status began after the release of his 2023 memoir, "Spare," in which he openly admitted to past drug use.

The 40-year-old royal detailed his experiences with cocaine, cannabis, and psychedelic mushrooms, which are substances that applicants are required to disclose when applying for a U.S. visa.

Reflecting on his past, Harry revealed that he first experimented with cocaine at 17.

"Of course, I had been taking cocaine at that time," the duke wrote. "At someone's house during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then, I have consumed some more."

After Prince Harry's candid admissions about past drug use in his memoir "Spare," the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking access to his visa records.

The organization aimed to determine whether Harry misrepresented his history of drug use when applying for a U.S. visa.

The Heritage Foundation argues that Harry, who resides in Montecito, California, with Meghan Markle and their two children, either failed to disclose his drug use or was granted special treatment.

They argue that transparency is necessary to ensure that immigration laws are applied equally. However, government attorneys resisted, asserting that releasing Harry's immigration records would violate his privacy rights.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed the foundation's claims, stating that their "purported evidence of government wrongdoing amounted merely to a 'bare suspicion' of government misconduct."

In a September ruling, Judge Nichols sided with DHS, concluding that "the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke's immigration records."

While he acknowledged that Harry had shared "intimate details of his life" in "Spare," he ruled that the prince still has a "reasonable privacy interest" in keeping his documents confidential.

The Heritage Foundation has since called on the president to step in. Nile Gardiner, director of the foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told the New York Post, "I will be urging the president to release Prince Harry's immigration records, and the president does have that legal authority to do that."

Gardiner emphasized that the case concerns "the rule of law, transparency and accountability," stating, "No one should be above the law."

He added, "Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use. My firm expectation is that action will be taken."

Before his election victory, Trump suggested he would consider deporting the former royal.

"I wouldn't protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That's unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me," he stated in February 2024.

The following month, he reinforced his stance, saying, "We'll have to see if [DHS] knows something about the drugs, and if he lied, they'll have to take appropriate action."

Trump's son, Eric Trump, also blasted Harry and Meghan as "bad apples."

"What I can tell you is, my father had so much respect for the Queen, as did I. My mum knew so many of them for years and had a great relationship with Diana," Eric told GB News, per Daily Beast. "It's a sacred institution. You can happily have those two [Meghan and Harry], we might not want them anymore, it feels like they're on an island of their own."

This comes after Harry's significant legal victory. According to People Magazine, on Wednesday, January 22, NGN (New Group Newspapers) issued a "full and unequivocal apology" to Harry and a substantial financial settlement for unlawfully hacking his phone and invading his privacy.

The publisher, which owns The Sun, admitted hiring private investigators to conduct illegal surveillance, marking the first time it has publicly acknowledged wrongdoing.

In addition to apologizing to Harry, the company also expressed regret over past intrusions by its journalists into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana.

Sources indicate that the damages awarded to Harry are in the eight-figure range, reportedly exceeding $12 million.