Immigration Equality, Members of Congress Call on HHS to Lift HIV Travel Ban
Posted on September 23, 2008
Filed Under Gay News Blog
Washington, DC, September 22, 2008 - Immigration Equality, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), and fifty-eight additional Members of Congress have called on President Bush and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to finish lifting the ban on HIV-positive travelers to the United States.
The appeal follows a statutory repeal of the ban as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a bill that won approval by large majorities in the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Bush in July. However, a regulatory change by HHS is needed to completely lift the ban; in the meanwhile, the HIV travel ban continues to be enforced.
Eager for HHS to act, fifty-eight members of the House of Representatives who voted for the PEPFAR bill have sent a joint letter to the President asking for swift action, led by California Reps. Barbara Lee, leader of the repeal effort in the House, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman. “We write to urge you to re-evaluate this policy, and base your determination both on public health knowledge and the recently reflected political consensus,” the letter states.
“I was pleased that during the recent reauthorization of our global AIDS programs, we were able to eliminate the unjust and discriminatory statutory ban preventing HIV positive people from entering the United States,” said Lee. “It’s far past time we got rid of this shameful policy. I urge the President to swiftly take the necessary steps to ensure that the regulatory ban is now formally removed and that people with HIV/AIDS are treated with the same dignity and respect as any other individual.”
The U.S. is one of only 13 countries to have such harsh HIV restrictions. Other countries which restrict short-term travel for individuals living with HIV include Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Qatar, South Korea, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. World leaders applauded the U.S. for lifting its statutory ban at the Mexico City AIDS Conference in August.
Senators Kerry and Smith, the lead sponsors of the original Senate bill for repeal, sent a separate letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, writing “We write to encourage you to act quickly to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance and end the HIV travel and immigration ban.”
Said Senator Kerry, “It’s time for Secretary Leavitt and the Administration to finally eliminate this misguided policy. This is not something that can wait for the next Administration to come into office. We need to expedite this process and finally lift the HIV travel and immigration ban so that no one will be subjected to this discriminatory practice. There was no reason for the policy to still be on the books, and I will continue to fight to eliminate this draconian ban.”
Immigration Equality, a national organization that worked to lift the statutory ban, joins Members of Congress in making the case for immediately lifting the ban. “The time has come to finish the job and end the devastating impact this ban has had on HIV-positive people and their families,” said Victoria Neilson, Immigration Equality’s Legal Director.
Immigration Equality has been a longtime national leader in the fight to lift the HIV travel ban. As the only national organization dedicated to advancing equal immigration rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive community, Immigration Equality worked for years in a concerted effort to lift the ban that included advocacy, public education, and legal assistance. Leading up to the vote, Immigration Equality reached out to key supporters in the Senate and worked with other allies to ensure passage.
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