HIV travel restriction set to be lifted

BROWNSVILLE — A rule that prevents many HIV-positive immigrants and travelers from entering the United States will likely be lifted before the year's end.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended the change earlier this month.

Groups advocating on behalf of immigrants and HIV/AIDS patients have been working to repeal the 22-year-old rule, which they call discriminatory, dangerous and debilitating to the strength of the U.S. scientific community.

Many foreigners with the HIV virus would benefit from the change, the groups say. These individuals would finally be able to enter the country to see loved ones, attend medical conferences or seek advanced medical treatment.

"The GMHC (Gay Men's Health Crisis) has been working to repeal the ban for over two decades," said Nathan Schaefer, the director of public policy for the New York-based HIV/AIDS advocacy group.

No major international HIV/AIDS conferences have been able to take place in this country because of the travel ban, he said. "It has a negative human rights and public health impact and it has been an outdated and discriminatory policy."

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently holding a 45-day public comment period on the decision. After that period ends, the CDC will review the comments and make a final decision on the regulation.

The recommendation for the change was not unexpected. Congress repealed the HIV travel ban in July last year, but the change has gone through a number of bureaucratic processes before making it to the CDC, according to Schaefer.

Currently, those attempting to immigrate to the United States must be tested for HIV along with a number of other communicable diseases, such as active tuberculosis and syphilis. Those who are HIV-positive and are traveling to the country for fewer than 30 days must sign a waiver checklist, which stipulates specific conditions they must comply with to enter the country.

Items on the checklist include confirming that the individual has medical insurance and therefore won't incur costs to the United States as a result of his or her condition; that the individual has sufficient medication for the duration of his or her trip; and that the individual is not symptomatic of a contagious AIDS-related condition.

According to Victoria Neilson, the legal director of the New York-based advocacy group Immigration Equality, some travelers can enter the country and not report that they have HIV, because they don't realize that it's considered a "communicable disease of public health significance," as defined by the U.S. Department of State. Yet, she has seen many cases of individuals who are profiled as homosexual and are then stopped and questioned as to whether or not they are HIV-positive, a practice she says is discriminatory.

The waiver for HIV positive individuals attempting to move to the United States has been considerably more difficult to obtain than the travel waiver.

"If you are HIV-positive, you can't even apply for a waiver unless you have a relative who is a U.S. citizen or green card holder," Neilson said. Even for those who do meet this requirement, the application process can be lengthy and time consuming, and there is no guarantee the waiver will be granted. These individuals must also have private medical insurance that will cover them in the United States, something Neilson says is very difficult to obtain before entering the country.

The CDC states that HIV/AIDS is now much better understood than it was in 1987, and that since it is now known that the disease can't be easily passed from one person to another, it makes sense to take it off the list.

But here in the Rio Grande Valley, Valley AIDS Council Executive Director Bob Smith says he is still worried that local residents don't understand how AIDS is spread.

"We watch our Web site, and you know what the most commonly searched string is?" Smith said. "Facts (about HIV/AIDS). People say to me, ‘You've worked there for so many years, how can you not have HIV?' And I tell them, ‘Because I didn't do anything that would make me get it.'"

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Laura Tillman is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.