Prince Harry's visa row intensifies as Duke warned 'major problem' ahead
A Donald Trump administration in the US could pose problems for Prince Harry in his visa application row, a royal correspondent has suggested.
Prince Harry's US visa row has intensified with the Duke of Sussex warned of a "major problem" ahead.
Washington DC-based think tank The Heritage Foundation wants details of Harry's visa to be made public and submitted freedom of information requests to the US Department of Homeland Security to release them in a bid to establish whether the Duke had admitted to previously taking drugs.
The think tank believes Americans have a right to know, but the department officials have pushed back on releasing details.
A judge is set to decide whether or not to grant the right-wing think tank's request to make the details public.
In the past few days, information has surfaced about the Department of Homeland Security resisting and arguing the information is private as well as claiming there may be some stigma attached to law enforcement.
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Royal correspondent, Victoria Murphy, told the Daily Mail's Palace Confidential podcast that claims of a "stigma" were confusing and that there were a lot of questions as to where the case might lead.
She added: "Firstly, will the information be released? What does the information show? Then what happens after that, if anything? And, of course, it could depend on the administration because there's an election coming up in the US.
"So it could come to nothing or it could become quite problematic for Harry. There's a lot of different directions this could go in."
A former staffer in the administration of Donald Trump, who will face US President Joe Biden in November's general election, has intimated Harry would not receive favourable treatment should their ex-boss regain the White House.
The US ambassador to Britain has said previously that Harry will not be deported under the Biden administration.
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US Citizenship and Immigration Services' policies say visa applicants "found to be drug users or addicts" are inadmissible.
But in practice, immigration officers are granted leeway to decide an application, based on such factors as the length and severity of drug use. Waivers are possible in some cases where an applicant has admitted to drug use.
Asked if the fact Harry is a royal, public figure was having an effect on the release of the information, Ms Murphy said the question had only come up because Harry had written in his memoir Spare about his previous drug-taking.
She argued that the whole issue around his visa had materialised due to his sharing those details. The Duke of Sussex wrote about using marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his bestselling memoir.
