The Department of Homeland Security has until the end of Tuesday to comply with a federal judge's order and release some of Prince Harry's immigration court documents, which could reveal whether he disclosed previous drug use before he came to the United States, according to court records.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols had ruled in favor of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has been seeking court documents for several years under the Freedom of Information Act.
Drug use itself isn't a disqualifying factor for a visa; lying about it could be a challenge. In theory, if Harry, the younger brother of the future U.K. king, Prince William, didn't disclose drug use on his visa application, he could have provided grounds to have him removed.
In his 2023 memoir, "Spare," Harry admitted using cocaine, among other drugs.
“Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time. At someone’s house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more,” he wrote in a Spanish-language version of his book.
“It wasn’t very fun, and it didn’t make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different.”
The federal government has fought efforts to air Harry's paperwork, saying the “request does not meet the public interest standard set forth" in Freedom of Information Act guidelines, according to defense lawyers.
However, Nichols has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and he said Saturday he had reviewed proposed redactions from the government.
"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," Nichols ruled.
Administration officials could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. Representatives for Prince Harry declined comment.
Prince Harry, who in court papers is also called "his Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David George of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, the Earl of Dumbarton, and Baron Kilkeel K.C.V.O.," stepped away from the royal family in early 2020.
He, his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, live near Santa Barbara, California.
President Donald Trump told the New York Post last month that he won't seek to have Prince Harry removed from the country.
“I don’t want to do that,” Trump said before he took aim at Markle, who has criticized him. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”