A prominent member of the pro-Trump think tank behind Project 2025 said he will personally urge Donald Trump to deport Prince Harry if he lied on immigration papers, after he and wife Meghan Markle launched a withering attack on Meta for abandoning its fact-checking program.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Beast that the whole issue of fact-checking at the social media giant is a “deeply political matter.” So it is “hugely inappropriate,” he said, for individuals styling themselves with the royal titles “Duke and Duchess of Sussex” to intervene in a “hot-button political topic.”
Gardiner said their involvement in the issue would increase the animosity of those who believe Harry should be deported if he lied on his U.S. immigration application forms, and that those papers should be published.
In the remarks published on their website, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell foundation accused Meta of having no “integrity,” being “deeply deceptive,” and “allowing either ego or profit, likely both, to guide decisions that affect billions.”
Gardiner told The Daily Beast the statement was “a clear intervention on a deeply political matter, specifically the contentious issue of censorship on social media in the United States. This is a hot-button political topic, particularly in the current climate.”
He said that while he accepted that the couple are no longer working royals, they remain “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex” and are putting their royal connections and titles “front and center” to “actively advance their causes.”
The Heritage Foundation has been accused of spending millions to block voting rights in the United States, and taking anti-LGBTQ positions, such as opposing gay marriage.
The think tank is, however, hugely influential in conservative circles, and according to some reports, it has helped vet candidates for top jobs in the new administration.
Gardiner added: “For members of the royal family to engage in such overtly political matters is, quite frankly, highly inappropriate. It goes against royal protocol. Their use of these titles to further their personal and political agendas makes a mockery of the royal family’s customary neutrality. Their statement wasn’t a moderate call for dialogue or understanding; it was an outright political rant.”
Gardiner said he believed the “poorly timed intervention” would “backfire” and intensify “public interest in their political activities” and stoke demands for Prince Harry’s immigration records to be released.
Gardiner has been leading a legal campaign on behalf of the Heritage Foundation to have Harry’s immigration application released. The organization, known for its publication of right-wing blogosphere favorite The Daily Signal, started legal action after Prince Harry revealed in is memoir he took drugs. Harry has subsequently implied in interviews that he continues to take some illegal drugs.
Drug users are required to disclose their habit on visa application forms, a revelation that typically causes a visa to be denied. The Heritage Foundation says that either Harry lied on the forms or else he was given a sweetheart deal by the Biden administration, and the organization is seeking to know which it was. Its efforts have so far been rebuffed by the courts, citing Harry’s right to privacy.
Gardiner told The Daily Beast: “On the issue of Harry’s immigration status in the United States, I believe that if he was dishonest on his application, he should be deported. It’s a straightforward matter of transparency, accountability, and the equal application of the rule of law. Everyone applying to enter or reside in the United States should be treated the same, without exception. The public has a right to know the truth, and there is a significant public interest in the release of his immigration records.”
Gardiner said: “I am confident that these records will eventually be released, likely under the new U.S. administration. President-elect Donald Trump has already expressed displeasure at Harry’s treatment of the queen and the royal family, and has the authority to order the release of these documents. I met with Donald Trump on a number of occasions at the White House during his first presidency, and if I have the opportunity to meet him again I will strongly recommend the release of Harry’s immigration records. I believe it is only a matter of time before they are released to the American people.”
Meghan and Harry’s declined to comment. They launched their attack on Meta for abandoning its fact-checking program less than two weeks after Meghan drove millions of views on Meta sites by rejoining Instagram.
In a statement on their website, Sussex.com, Meghan and Harry urged “those enabling Meta’s profits” to lobby the company to change course but did not mention Meghan’s own return to the platform to promote her now postponed cooking show.
The note said Meta’s move “directly undermines free speech” and accused the company of having no “integrity” and being “deeply deceptive.” In the extraordinary diatribe, Meghan and Harry accused Meta of “allowing either ego or profit, likely both, to guide decisions that affect billions.”