Bush signs bill repealing HIV immigration ban
by Max Gelber
Bay Windows Contributor
Thursday Jul 31, 2008
President Bush signed a bill reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) July 30, and the bill includes language repealing a 1993 law that banned HIV-positive foreign nationals from entering the country and, in most cases, prevented them from obtaining permanent residency in the U.S.
The reauthorization, which funds AIDS prevention and treatment services in the developing world, will more than triple the current budget from $15 billion to $48 billion. The funding comes with some major restrictions, particularly a requirement that one third of funding for AIDS prevention be spent on abstinence-based programs.
"This bill embodies the extraordinary compassion of the American people. We are a compassionate nation. And that's what this bill says loud and clear," said President Bush as he signed the bill.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry worked with Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to ensure that the repeal of the HIV immigration ban was included in the final PEPFAR reauthorization bill.
"This week we finally ended a discriminatory practice that stigmatized all those living with HIV, squandered our moral authority, and set us back in the fight against AIDS," Kerry said in a statement provided by his office. "There was no reason for this misguided policy to still be on the books. A lot of people said this couldn't be done. I'm proud as hell that we proved them wrong and eliminated this draconian ban."
The ban, approved in 1993, prevented any visitors or immigrants from entering the United States if they were reported to be infected with the HIV virus. It is unclear whether the repeal of the ban will end the immigration barriers faced by HIV-positive foreign nationals. In 1987, prior to the ban's enactment, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) placed HIV on its list of diseases that prevented infected individuals from entering the country. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which worked with Kerry, Smith and Lee to insert the immigration ban repeal, called on HHS to remove HIV from that list.
"The HIV travel and immigration ban performs no public health service, is unnecessary and ineffective. We thank our allies on the Hill who fought to end this injustice and now call on Secretary of Health and Human Services [Mike] Leavitt to remove the remaining regulatory barriers to HIV-positive visitors and immigrants," said HRC President Joe Solmonese in a statement.
