The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) applauds the Obama Administration for proposing to lift the nearly two decades old rule that prohibited persons living with HIV from entering the United States. In Thursday’s Federal Register (July 2nd), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will publish a notice that it intends to repeal the HIV travel and immigrant ban. The public now has 45 days to comment on the proposed regulations.
The existing ban only contributes to promoting stigma about HIV and its removal was long overdue. NAPWA strongly applauds the Obama Administration for taking this action. We have waited a long time to see this discriminatory and unjust rule be eliminated.
In 1993, Congress permanently listed HIV in the Immigration and Nationality Act as a disease barring entry into the United States. It was the only disease listed specifically in statute. Congress ordered the ban removed in 2008, but in practice it never was. HIV was still listed as a communicable disease of public health significance. That effectively barred anyone with HIV from entering the country. Finally, this pointless discriminatory bar is about to be lifted…we hope.
The proposed new rule states: “While HIV infection is a serious health condition, it does not represent a communicable disease that is a significant threat for introduction, transmission, and spread to the U.S. population through casual contact. An arriving alien with HIV infection does not pose a public health risk to the general population through casual contact. As a result of these proposed regulatory changes, aliens would no longer be inadmissible into the United States based solely on the grounds they are infected with HIV.”
Take it from NAPWA Board Vice Chair Michelle Lopez: “As an immigrant from Trinidad living with HIV who has made the United States their home, I cannot express enough how happy I am to see this hateful ban finally go away. This ban serves no useful purpose and was totally ineffective at stopping HIV from spreading in the United States. Its only outcome was to enhance stigma and discrimination against persons who are living with the virus.”
NAPWA looks forward to issuing favorable and supportive comments on this proposed rule. You can help! All persons living with HIV/AIDS are urged to submit formal, public comments in support of this regulation. NAPWA will be releasing on its website a template that persons living with HIV and the public may use to submit formal comments in support of eliminating the HIV travel and immigration ban.
A copy of the proposed rule can be found here.
We’re just days away from National HIV Testing Day on June 27th. An annual event, organized in part by the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA,) this year’s theme is simple: Take the test, take control!