Senate Repeals HIV Travel Ban. 17/07/08
Bay Area Reporter (07.17.08: Bob Roehr)
AIDS advocates applauded the Senate's 80-16 vote on July 16 to repeal the longstanding ban on travel and immigration by non-US residents with HIV. The provision overturning the 20-year ban, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), was included as an amendment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. A bid by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to reinstate the ban never materialized; he accepted a substitute amendment instead.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of lifting the restrictions would amount to $83 million in additional medical costs over the next 10 years. To offset the cost, visa application fees were raised by $1 and immigration application fees by $2.
"For those of us who have long dreamed of becoming Americans, and have been prevented by the 1993 law from ever being able to enter or leave the US without waivers or fear of humiliation, this is a massive burden lifted," said Andrew Sullivan, a conservative gay commentator.
"It is gratifying to know that my HIV-positive colleagues from other countries will finally be allowed to come to the United States to share their expertise," said Michael Saag, vice chair of the HIV Medical Association.
"We applaud the Senate for rejecting this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbied to lift the ban.
The restrictions originated in 1987 and were codified by Congress in 1993.
Immigration law excludes non-citizens with any "communicable disease of public health significance" from entering the United States. However, only HIV is explicitly named in the statute.