HIV Ban in US

In the US in the 1980s, the emergence of AIDS caused a widespread fear across the nation. Parents panicked sending their children to school, government officials did not know what stance to take and those afflicted with the disease felt their former lives draining away as they became shunned in society. It was during this first panic-stricken decade that the government issued a ban for those infected with HIV who wished to visit or immigrate to the United States. For over twenty years, this ban has been fixed in place despite the fact that so much more has been learned about the disease that caused an entire nation to go into a state of terror.

The United States is not alone in this ban as other countries, including Russia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, have also issued their own ban against visitors with AIDS. Senators Gordon Smith and John Kerry are fighting to abolish this ban by attaching this piece of legislation to another one which would allot over $50 billion to the fight against AIDS in poor countries like Africa. Senator Kerry stated that even China has realized their error and lifted their ban realizing it was high time “to move beyond an antiquated, knee-jerk reaction” to those who are afflicted with HIV. In a speech he prepared for the Center for Strategic and International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force, he went on to say that “there’s no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease.” He stated that even those people who were afflicted with the Ebola virus or bird flu have had a much easier time visiting the US than those who carry HIV. Any attempt to visit for a short time is met with much opposition and those afflicted with HIV can pretty much say bye-bye to obtaining a permanent residence in the US.

As the law stands, HIV is the only disease that is explicitly banned. The legislation that both Senators Kerry and Smith are attempting to pass would cause the decision for determining whether somebody with a communicable disease is eligible to visit or seek residence in the US to be placed in the hands of health officials in the Health and Human Services Department, not government officials. If somebody afflicted with HIV wished to establish residency in the US, they would be required to demonstrate that they have the means and ability to live in the US and would not become a financial burden to society.

This ban has hurt more than it has helped. AIDS/HIV experts who happen to be infected with HIV from other countries have not been allowed to attend conferences in the United States, despite their knowledge and expertise. In addition, students, as well as those people who have taken refuge in the United States who may be infected with HIV are too terrified to get tested or treated for the disease for fear they will get deported back to their own countries. The legislative director of the Human Rights Campaign, Allison Herwitt, says that the ban was established “during a time of widespread fear and ignorance about the HIV virus.” Because of this, “health care professionals, researchers and other exceptionally talented people have been blocked from the United States.”