Prince Harry may be forced to leave the United States — if it is proven he lied about past drug use when emigrating from the U.K.
U.S. President Donald Trump is being pressured to release the Duke of Sussex’s immigration file, and its contents could prompt his deportation.
Trump had previously pledged during his 2024 campaign that he would take appropriate action in response to any false claims on official forms — after Harry revealed in his 2023 memoir Spare that he took cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.
Visa and green card applicants are typically required to disclose their history of drug use, the New York Post reported, and they could be deported if officials discover any inaccuracies.
A federal judge ruled against any disclosure of Harry’s application papers last year, but the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation wants Trump to override the court’s decision to keep the records sealed.
“I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,” Nile Gardiner, director of the foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told the Post.
“It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability,” Gardiner continued. “No one should be above the law.”
According to the Post, the Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in February 2024 requesting access to a Freedom of Information Act to Harry’s visa documents to determine whether his statements about drug use were false.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
Harry revealed in his book that he tried cocaine for the first time when he was 17, writing that he wanted “to feel different” after the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
“Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time,” he wrote. “At someone’s house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more.”
In March 2024, Trump said he would “have to see” if Homeland Security was aware of the admission, which came years after Harry, wife Meghan Markle and son Archie moved to Montecito, California in 2020. Their daughter Lilibet was born the following year.
“If they know something about the drugs, and if he lied, they’ll have to take appropriate action,” Trump vowed at the time.
Gardiner suspected that the Biden administration gave Harry “special treatment” to prevent the release of Harry’s records after the couple’s Archewell Foundation donated $250,000 check to first daughter Ashley Biden’s Philadelphia-based nonprofit for women affected by trauma, according to tax filings disclosed in December 2024, the publication reported.
“Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use,” Gardiner added. “My firm expectation is that action will be taken.”