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A Republican lawmaker is trying to pass a bill that would deport Prince Harry and other “left-wing celebrities” that have admitted to using drugs.
The Substance and Possession Abuse Restrictions for Entrance (SPARE) Act seeks to permanently ban any immigrant that lies about drugs on their visa application. Current federal law bans non-citizens who admit to using illegal drugs from entering the country, and anyone who lies about their past drug use is supposed to be barred from the US for life. But according to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), customs officials are looking the other way when it comes to rich and famous immigrants.
“I introduced the SPARE Act because individuals should be deported immediately if they are caught lying on their visa application,” Steube explained in a press release. “If the Executive Branch is granting waivers on the basis of drug usage to individuals who enter the U.S., that information should not be hidden from the public. We must ensure no one receives preferential treatment behind closed doors.”
Steube’s bill seeks to address this issue by forcing the Department of Homeland Security to waste its time tracking down rumors about immigrants’ past drug use. If passed, the bill would require the DHS secretary to investigate any claim regarding “an alien knowingly providing false information on controlled substance violations” within 60 days. And if customs officials do grant a controlled substance waiver to any immigrant, the bill would force them to make that waiver public.
The SPARE Act is a clear reference to Prince Harry’s recent autobiography, Spare. In the book, the Duke of Sussex openly admitted to trying cocaine as a teen and using plant medicines like cannabis, shrooms, and ayahuasca as an adult. Prince Harry currently lives in California, though, and conservatives are outraged that someone who has used drugs a few times should be allowed to remain in the US. The highly conservative Heritage Foundation has been adamantly demanding Harry’s deportation, and Steube has clearly stepped up to do the organization’s bidding.
“The Biden administration deliberately refuses to enforce our country’s immigration laws at the Southern border, and it appears they may be obstructing the fair and equal enforcement of our visa laws as well,” said Rep. Steube in a statement. “Left-wing celebrities like Prince Harry, who have a self-recorded history of illegal drug use, should be subjected to the same standards and enforcement of our country’s immigration laws as any other alien.”
America’s extreme anti-drug immigration laws have been on the books for decades, but they only really started picking up media attention after Canada legalized weed. US immigration law ignores other countries’ drug laws, so any Canadian who legally uses cannabis at home can still be banned from the US for life. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) went overboard on these rules at first and started looking up the names of Canadian cannabis business employees and permanently banning them from entry. Customs agents even banned a Canadian woman who brought a bottle of federally-legal CBD oil across the border.
CBP officials have recently started to back down on these extreme policies, but Steube’s bill would force the DHS to ramp up the War on Drugs all over again. It’s especially ironic that Steube chose to sponsor this anti-weed bill, though, as he has also sponsored bills that would federally reschedule cannabis and protect benefits for veterans who use medical marijuana.
