For Immediate Release
June 4, 2007
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Media Contact:
Noel Alicea, 212.367.1216
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GMHC Statement on Comprehensive Immigration
Reform Act of 2007
Today the United States Senate resumes debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, the so-called "grand bargain" reached by the White House and a bipartisan group of Senators last month. Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) stands opposed to this legislation. While we recognize the need for comprehensive immigration reform to address the exploitation and inhumane policies directed toward undocumented immigrants, we believe this bill would aggravate those conditions. Some elements of the bill have received significant media attention, while others have been largely overlooked, despite the danger their enactment would pose. GMHC is committed to justice for all immigrants and is particularly concerned about how these provisions would affect people with HIV and AIDS.
HIV Bar
The Senate bill lets stand the 20-year old policy that has banned HIV+ noncitizens from entering the U.S. and barred those already living here from attaining most types of legal status. The result has been AIDS-related fatalities abroad, as individuals are unable to access treatment and care, or are targeted for violence based on their HIV status or on real or perceived sexual orientation. Inside the U.S., immigrants facing significant health risks are actively deterred from seeking treatment, or avoid contact with providers out of fear of putting their immigration status in permanent limbo. If they are low-income or poor, they either don't have recourse to the full slate of public programs and services they need to stay healthy or may be unaware of the services to which they are entitled. There is widespread recognition by health professionals that there is no public health justification whatsoever for the bar.
Asylum
Though difficult to secure, some HIV+ immigrants have been granted asylum based on their HIV status. It is imperative that this avenue expand to become a genuinely viable option for more HIV+ and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) immigrants. Rather than doing away with onerous processes that jeopardize the health and well-being of applicants, the Senate bill makes it even harder to obtain asylum. The "grand bargain" makes it a felony, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison, to knowingly use someone else's passport or a false or irregularly issued passport. Yet, the very conditions that force people to seek asylum often necessitate their use of false papers. Dissidents and others viewed as outcasts are often refused passports by their countries of origin. The legislation under consideration by the Senate fails to recognize this and would make anyone convicted of passport fraud ineligible for asylum and deportable. If asylum is granted prior to the conviction, the asylum could be revoked. Finally, the bill lets stand the requirement that individuals petition for asylum within one year of arrival in the U.S.Ņan unrealistic deadline for people who may not learn until much later that asylum (including asylum premised on their sexual orientation or HIV status) is a possibility and/or may have to navigate the system without fluency in English.
Detention
Closely related to asylum is the issue of detention, where many asylees, immigrants, and prospective immigrants remain, sometimes indefinitely, pending a decision on their claim. There is no standard of care for detainees with HIV and AIDS and access to lifesaving medications is erratic. We have received reports of treatment regimens being interrupted, medication being withheld, HIV+ people being swept up in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and even the death of an HIV+ migrant worker. The current bill calls for twenty additional detention facilities to be built or acquired that have the combined capacity to hold at least 20,000 more individuals at any given time. GMHC cannot support a measure that creates more opportunities for more people to be detained indefinitely, without due process and without adequate health care.
Medicaid
Immigrants in most states are not eligible for Medicaid or other federal means-tested benefits until they become citizens. In most cases, an immigrant cannot apply for citizenship until he or she has been a legal permanent resident (a green card holder) for at least five years. Despite the enormous hardships created as a result, proposals in the Senate immigration bill would make the situation significantly worse. Due to provisions that mandate undocumented immigrants wait until the eight-year backlog of applications is cleared before they can even hope to get their green card, a "legalizing" immigrant, paying taxes, residing in a state where citizenship is a prerequisite for Medicaid eligibility, will wait at least thirteen years before he or she can access care and treatment through Medicaid. This would be catastrophic for any legalizing immigrant with significant health care needs, including and especially people with HIV.
Guest worker program
Many of GMHC's coalition partners have spoken out against the creation of a guest worker program. We agree that such a program will undermine all labor and exploit immigrant workers in particular. Moreover, in a country where health insurance is closely tied to employment, guest workers would be left without meaningful medical care. Ineligible for Medicaid and unlikely to be employed at jobs with benefits, guest workers would remain without access to health care for the duration of their time in the U.S.
Capping and eliminating visas
The Senate bill forecloses several visa options: it caps the number of visas available to parents of U.S. citizens; eliminates green cards issued for siblings and adult children of U.S. citizens and green card holders; and terminates the diversity lottery program which grants 50,000 visas a year. The proposed "Z visa," touted as a path to citizenship, would remain out of reach for undocumented immigrants without significant financial resources. It would require the payment of a $1,000 fine up front and an additional $4,000 to be paid at the time of an individual's green card application (plus a $1,500 processing fee). Heads of households would have to return to their country of origin and apply for their green cards within eight years. There is no guarantee they would be allowed to reenter the U.S. This process would not even begin until the U.S. first clears the existing backlog of four million applications. For many immigrants, these visa provisions would replace relatively feasible paths to legal residency and citizenship with insurmountable obstacles.
There are many other components in the Senate bill that merit opposition. Resources that could be put towards expanding health care will instead be directed toward the increased militarization of the border. U.S. residents—immigrants and native-born alike—will find ourselves under increased surveillance if the "employment eligibility verification system" is expanded to all seven million U.S. employers as per the bill's provisions. These are serious concerns. GMHC's primary opposition rests simply on the inhumanity of legislation that eradicates due process; upholds indefinite detention and the discriminatory HIV immigration bar; criminalizes asylum seekers; creates or maintains unreasonable criteria for those seeking to adjust their status; and places life-saving medical care and treatment beyond the reach of millions of immigrants.
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Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) is a not-for-profit, volunteer-supported
and community-based organization committed to national leadership in the
fight against AIDS. Our mission is to reduce the spread of HIV disease,
help people with HIV maintain and improve their health and independence,
and keep the prevention, treatment and cure of HIV an urgent national and
local priority. In fulfilling this mission, we will remain true to our
heritage by fighting homophobia and affirming the individual dignity of
all gay men and lesbians. We provide services and programs to over
15,000 men, women and families that are living with or affected by
HIV/AIDS in New York City. For more information, please visit www.gmhc.org.
© 2007 Gay Men's Health Crisis
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