On Jul 16, 10:01=A0am, Sordo=A0 <=A0so...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> =A0July 16, 2008, 6:14AM
> U.S. ban on visitors with HIV could be repealed soon
>
> By JIM ABRAMS
> Associated Press
>
> WA****NGTON =97 A two-decade ban on people with HIV visiting or
immigratin=
g
> to the United States may end soon through a Senate bill aimed at
> fighting AIDS and other diseases in Africa and other poor areas of the
> world.
>
> The U.S. is one of a dozen countries =97 including Sudan, Saudi Arabia,
> Libya and Russia =97 that ban travel and immigration for HIV-positive
> people.
>
> Even China, said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., recently changed that policy,
> deciding it was "time to move beyond an antiquated, knee-jerk reaction"
> to people with HIV.
>
> "There's no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease,"
> Kerry said Tuesday at a speech to the Center for Strategic &
> International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force. Even people with avian flu or
> the Ebola virus have an easier time than those with HIV when it come to
> applying for visas, he said.
>
> Kerry and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., are trying to repeal the ban, first
> implemented in 1987 and confirmed by Congress in 1993. The two have
> attached their measure to legislation =97 which the Senate may pass this
> week =97 that would provide $50 billion over the next five years to
fight
> AIDS and other diseases in Africa and other poor areas.
>
> Foreign citizens, students and tourists can apply for a
> difficult-to-obtain special waiver for short-term visits, but an
> HIV-positive person has little chance of obtaining permanent residency.
>
> Under current law, HIV is the only medical condition explicitly listed
> under immigration law. The Kerry-Smith provision would make HIV
> equivalent to other communicable diseases where medical and public
> health experts at the Health and Human Services Department =97 not
> consular officials at U.S. embassies =97 determine eligibility for
> admission.
>
> Those with HIV seeking legal permanent residency would still have to
> demonstrate they have the resources to live in this country and would
> not become a "public charge."
>
> The HIV ban was "adopted during a time of widespread fear and ignorance
> about the HIV virus," said Allison Herwitt, legislative director of the
> Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian civil rights
> group.
>
> Among the consequences, experts on HIV and AIDS who are themselves
> infected have been unable to attend conferences in the U.S. Students and
> refugees in the country who may be at risk of infection have been
> reluctant to seek testing or treatment.
>
> "Health care professionals, researchers and other exceptionally talented
> people have been blocked from the United States," some 160 health and
> AIDS groups said recently in a letter urging Congress to end the current
> policy. "Since 1993, the International Conference on AIDS has not been
> held on U.S. soil due to this policy."
>
> Herwitt said some HIV-positive people seeking visas lie on their
> applications and then don't bring their medications. "It's not only
> wrongheaded and discriminatory, but can also cause people to not tell
> the truth."
>
> Both President George H.W. Bush and President Clinton sought to ease the
> policy and in 2006 the current President Bush asked the Homeland
> Security Department to streamline the waiver process. Congress so far
> has not gone along.
>
> There's still opposition.
>
> Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., may offer an amendment to eliminate the
> Kerry-Smith provision from the Senate bill. Sessions cited Congressional
> Budget Office estimates that the new immigrants coming in under the
> relaxed policy could cost the government more than $80 million over a
> 10-year period. "Most people just don't want to talk about that."
>
> Sessions said the Health and Human Services Department already has
> considerable flexibility to grant entry visas.
>
> The measure would offset the costs of new immigrants by raising the
> price of applying for a visitor's visa by $1 for three years and then $2
> for the next five years.
>
> The House version of the Africa AIDS bill does not have the travel and
> immigration provision, but advocates said it will be included in the
> final version of the bill that goes to the president.
>
> Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is sponsoring companion legislation in the
> House.
>
> The Africa AIDS bill is S. 2731.
In the interest of promoting diversity I demand that persons having
cholera, bubonic plague, and
smallpox be allowed into America.
mitch
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