OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has weighed in on a developing controversy involving Prince Harry of Great Britain regarding the Biden administration and the monarch’s visa status.
Harry is currently involved with a contentious court case regarding the visa that has allowed him to enter and remain in the country, as Trump accused the Biden White House of “protecting” the prince by keeping his immigration application secret.
The conservative Heritage Foundation has been fighting in court to make the application public. The organization’s case is premised because Harry’s admitted drug use in his memoir should have been an issue that prevented him from being admitted into the United States, the Western Journal reported.
On Saturday, Trump made it clear he wasn’t siding with Harry.
“I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed [Queen Elizabeth II]. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me,” Trump told the UK’s Daily Express while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Asked about President Joe Biden’s treatment of the Sussexes, Trump responded: “I think they have been too gracious to him after what he has done.”
The New York Post added:
In “Spare,” Harry wrote that when he was younger, he had taken cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms, noting that the cocaine “didn’t do anything for me,” but “Marijuana is different, that did help me.”
The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit argues that US law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry” to the country, but lawyers representing the Department of Homeland Security argued differently in court last week, saying something in a book wasn’t “sworn testimony or proof.”
DHS attorneys argued that what Harry wrote in a book could have been embellished to sell more copies, adding that “saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true.”
Earlier this week, reports noted that Harry could be considering jumping back into his work as a royal after becoming “very bored” with life. He had previously said he considered becoming an American citizen but noted he would have to surrender his title to do so.
The issue of illegal immigration has been one of Trump’s top concerns since his first term in office, and after three years of Biden’s loose migrant policies, which have allowed some 7 to 8 million people to cross into the country illegally, it’s become a top issue for most Americans.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to criticize President Joe Biden, blaming him for allowing the murder of the 22-year-old woman to happen. He lambasted the administration for the surge of illegal immigrants entering the country and engaging in criminal activities.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s Border INVASION is destroying our country and killing our citizens!” Trump wrote. “The horrible murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley at the University of Georgia should have NEVER happened! The monster who took her life illegally entered our Country in 2022 … and then was released AGAIN by Radical Democrats in New York after injuring a CHILD!!”
“When I am your President, we will immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History!” Trump continued. “May God Bless Laken Riley and her family!!! Our prayers are with you!”
Riley was found dead Thursday afternoon close to a lake on the UGA campus after being reported missing. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the alleged perpetrator of the 22-year-old nursing student’s murder, reportedly entered the United States illegally by crossing the southern border into El Paso, Texas, in 2022, per a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provided to the Daily Caller.
On Friday, Ibarra was arrested and accused of multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another.
The 26-year-old suspect has a significant criminal history. He was initially arrested on September 8, 2022, by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for unlawfully entering the country. Although he was paroled and released for additional processing, Ibarra was subsequently apprehended by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and charged with endangering a child under 17. Despite ICE’s request for detention, the illegal migrant was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued, The DC reported.
