Prince Harry Gets US Visa Boost From Biden Admin

Biden administration lawyers have backed a statement from a U.S. ambassador suggesting the President will not deport Prince Harry in a high stakes court case about his U.S. visa, Newsweek can reveal.

The Duke of Sussex’s visa status has been under the microscope since he described taking a variety of illegal drugs in both the U.K. and America in his book Spare.

The Heritage Foundation sued the Department for Homeland Security to try to obtain his visa records as a means of determining whether he had lied in paperwork.

And Donald Trump hinted at the possibility he could even deport Harry if elected president again during an interview with GB News: “We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”

In that context, Jane Hartley, America’s ambassador to the U.K., was asked by presenter Kay Burley on Sky News whether deportation was a realistic prospect for the royal and answered: “Well, it’s not going to happen in the Biden administration.”

Heritage brought her comments into the court case, arguing the “extraordinary” remarks amounted to confirmation that “regardless of future circumstances, they will decline to deport the Duke of Sussex—even in the most extreme of cases.”

Now, the Department for Homeland Security has defended Hartley, saying her remark “suggests no government impropriety.”

A court filing seen by Newsweek reads: “[Heritage] argue that Jane Hartley, U.S. Ambassador to the Court of Saint James, revealed information about the Duke’s immigration status during an interview with Sky News.

“But Hartley’s comment was simply a reaction to former President Donald Trump suggesting that, if he is elected to the presidency again, he would consider deporting the Duke.

“Contrary to [Heritage’s] representations, Hartley’s comments did not reveal any non-public information regarding the Duke’s status, and Hartley did not state that that Duke would not be deported ‘regardless of future circumstances.’

“If anything, Hartley’s comment that the Duke would not be deported under the Biden administration is consistent [with] the position that Defendant has taken in this litigation, namely that the Duke’s admission to and residence in the United States suggests no government impropriety.”

It will come as a boost to Prince Harry to see the Biden administration consistently doubling down on its position that nothing untoward has taken place and there is therefore no need for the release of his private information.

They have sought to have the case thrown out in the face of Heritage’s own argument that the public have a right to know whether Harry was given favorable treatment by immigration officials.

A past filing by Heritage lawyers, seen by Newsweek, reads: “This statement [by Hartley] is extraordinary. First. Ambassador Hartley spoke directly to some of the very information concerning the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status sought by [Heritage’s] FOIA Request—information DHS has repeatedly told this Court must be kept confidential.

“We now know that regardless of what occurred with the “red flags” raised on the publicly known facts, the Duke of Sussex will not be deported.”

“Ambassador Hartley categorically stated that the Duke of Sussex will not be deported by the Biden administration,” it continued. “Thus, the Executive Branch has now categorically stated that, regardless of future circumstances, they will decline to deport the Duke of Sussex—even in the most extreme of cases.”

Jack Royston is Newsweek‘s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

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