| HIV Immigration & Travel Bar
Since 1987, the United States has banned HIV+ noncitizens and nonresidents from entering the country and barred nonresidents already living in the U.S. from most types of legal status. GMHC has worked with many immigrants whose lives have been jeopardized by this indefensible policy. We are currently working on a major initiative to overturn the HIV bar itself.
Many of us have been celebrating the first major win in the fight to lift HIV-related travel and immigration bar in the United States: the removal of the statutory bar embedded in the Immigration and Naturalization Act by an amendment instigated by Jesse Helms and voted into law in 1993.
Now the United States Department of Health and Human Services has regained its power to remove HIV and AIDS from its list of "dangerous communicable diseases" that prohibit entry to the U.S. and advocates are pushing for this change. Advocates are also looking deeper to see how the momentum around lifting the bar could help us address other issues critical to HIV+ travelers and would-be immigrants.
Gay Men's Health Crisis in partnership with IRMA- International Rectal Microbicides Advocates is delighted to invite you to the next IRMA global teleconference on science and issues. Please join us to discuss the state of the bar, its potential impact on the 2010 Microbicides conference in Pittsburg, and next steps in HIV-related travel and immigration restrictions advocacy:
On Sunday, August 3, at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City , Gay Men’s Health Crisis hosted a satellite session: Undermining Public Health and Human Rights: The United States' HIV Immigration and Travel Ban.* (PDF)
*Also available in Spanish
Speakers included Christos Tsentas on behalf of Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Robert Bank, Chief Operating Officer, GMHC; Ceasar Portillo of BIENESTAR; Amanda Lugg, Community Advocate, African Services Committee; and Felix Lopez, Director of the Legal Department, GMHC who presented on behalf of “the empty chair” - a statement from an HIV+ person in the United States who cannot travel to Mexico.
Sean Cahill, Managing Director, Public Policy, Research and Community Health, GMHC moderated the panel.
On Tuesday, June 10 in a side meeting during the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS held from June 10-11th, international experts in law, public health and human rights along with those affected by these restrictions presented ENTRY DENIED, a panel discussion on HIV-related travel and immigration restrictions co-sponsored by the International AIDS Society, Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), UNAIDS, and the members of the Civil Society Task Force. Please see the press releases below and resources at the right for further information.
Contact information and additional resources
If you are person living with HIV and have an immigration question
or need legal assistance, please contact:
Vishal Trivedi
212.367.1308
vishalt@gmhc.org
For more information about GMHC's policy work on HIV and immigration,
or to get involved with The Coalition to Lift the Bar please contact:
Nathan Schaefer
212.367.1041
nathans@gmhc.org
© 2008 Gay Men's Health Crisis |
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