March 12, 2008

Congress May Eliminate HIV Travel Ban

Representative Barbara Lee of California and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry are pushing for legislation that will repeal the current travel restrictions on HIV-positive people, the Associated Press reports (ap.google.com, 3/10).

AIDS activists have long considered the HIV travel ban discriminatory, as it is currently the only medical condition included in the Immigration and Nationality Act for Inadmissibility. According to the AP, a bill—supported by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—will be voted on by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

However, a House of Representatives version of the bill does not include language calling for a lift of the travel ban, prompting Lee—with the assistance of Kerry—to introduce stand-alone legislation, which would remove the U.S. from the small number of countries that continues to restrict visiting HIV-positive foreigners.

Related news:
Senate Committee Votes to Remove HIV Travel Ban, March 14, 2008
UNAIDS Task Force Fights HIV Travel Bans, March 6, 2008

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Previous Comments:

Thomas, Scotland, 2008-04-11 02:52:38
I think this is a disgrace. Here's me thought the America was the land of the free.

James, Los Angeles, 2008-04-10 23:18:20
Any follow up news on the lift of HIV traveal/imigration ban? Now that PEPFAR has been passed in the Senate. It's curious how ther hasn't been any follow up news on this. DO people care about this matter?

Jake, NYC, 2008-04-10 11:23:07
This was passed in the early days of the epidemic when little was known about transmission. In reality, you never hear about anyone being denied entry based on HIV status (citizenship is another matter) I have traveled with poz people from Europe where agents have searched their bags and found HIV meds and still allowed entry as visitors.

That guy, Sioux Salls, 2008-03-20 04:15:20
America was called a melting pot at one time. Why should someone that is poz be exempt from a chance to make a life here as long as he or she is willing to live by the same rules we do. It was a really messed up law to start with.

halil, Wilmington, 2008-03-18 12:00:37
A husband and wife both have V and are undetectable". he husband was born and currently live in the S. His wife was born nd currently lives inthe U. Because of the travel ban, the wife cannot come to visit and be with her husband. I this the goalof he travel ban?

Khalil Abdul-Majid, Wilmington, 2008-03-18 11:22:13
Those who are HIV+ and have an "undetectable viral load" are (according to the most current medical update) are non-infectious and others who may be HIV+ with a viral load above 50 but on anti-retroviral meds, would want to be "undetectable". For a husband who is HIV+ and was born and lives in the United States and has a HIV+ wife who lives in another country and wants to visit her husband in the US, this travel ban will prevent that from happening. Is that the idea?

NIck, Montreal, Canada, 2008-03-18 11:12:28
Everytime I come to the States I sweat bullets that my pills may be found and I will be foudn out and abnned for ever from visiting, seeing that I have my closest friends live in the States...Shame on the US for such a backwards law...and shame on them for taking too much time to even look at the law to change it!!! Also amazing is the amoung of my intelligent friends in the US who did not even know this ban existed....Time to cry out!!!!

Jimmy, NYC, 2008-03-18 08:47:49
Shame on the US for having such a ban. The only other countries in the world having such a bans are-Armenia, Brunei, China, Iraq, Qatar, South Korea, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Look, these are the countries not best known for their respect for human /civil rights...China, in particular, has been severely criticized by the US for violating human right. Now the US is doing the same thing, how hyprocritical and shameless!!

Derek, Wichita Falls, TX, 2008-03-14 00:28:25
Just to wonder where this ban has came from, makes me wonder. Why are there not any other bans for airborne virues that are transmitted daily through every local and international airport. Which has been known to cause the economy to suffer in many ways. Which just proves that HIV and AIDS is something that they don't want to deal with because of the media proproganda of spreading fears just for numbers. Which is why I incourage people to vote because they can make a difference with a vote.

kolo, , 2008-03-13 13:45:07
This ban has been the cause of treatment failure for many people who had to leave their drugs behind to travel in fear of having their luggage searched by immigration. People risk their lifes...all for a stupid government policy. It will be a shame for the US if not lifted! The US has always advocated for equal rights....where is this equality when HIV positive people are concerned?? What about the positive US citizens who travel to other countries without problems?

francis, NYC, 2008-03-13 11:53:16
treating HIV positive people as undesirable and not being able to enter, is NOT nore should be the american way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David, New York, 2008-03-12 18:29:34
The travel ban is a national disgrace. It should never have existed.