Published Tuesday | March 11, 2008

Congress May Strike HIV Travel Limits
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Gay-rights activists are hoping to use a global AIDS relief bill supported by the Bush administration to repeal a 15-year-old law restricting travel to the U.S. by HIV-positive people.

Activists oppose the near-ban as discriminatory since HIV is the only medical condition singled out in the Immigration and Nationality Act for inadmissibility. Under a 1993 amendment to that law, foreigners with the virus can obtain visas to come to the U.S. only under limited circumstances and if they get a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security.

Now language in a bill extending the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief would delete the restriction. The bill, which directs billions to AIDS programs worldwide and is enthusiastically supported by President Bush, is set for a vote Thursday in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A House version of the bill does not include language repealing the travel ban. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who along with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has introduced stand-alone legislation to change the ban, said supporters thought it would be easier to get the provision through the Senate. They will try to ensure it stays in the final version of the bill.

Lee and Kerry joined Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese on a conference call Tuesday to push for reversing the ban.

Kerry called reversing the restriction "a reform that is long needed." Lee noted that the International AIDS Conference has not been held on U.S. soil since Congress passed the restriction. Activists say the U.S. is one of just a small number of countries to block entrance of HIV-positive people.

"We're once again very isolated on this policy in terms of the world community," Lee said.

The Bush administration has acknowledged problems with the ban and on World AIDS Day last year proposed changing the rules to make the process easier for HIV-positive people seeking 30-day stays.

But the draft rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which still hasn't been finalized, has been criticized by activists and Democratic lawmakers who say it doesn't improve matters. The draft rule would shift decision-making from DHS headquarters to U.S. consulates in HIV-positive travelers' home countries, but would require applicants to agree to certain conditions, including giving up the right to apply for a longer stay or permanent residency in the U.S.
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