Bush Adminstration Slow To Reverse HIV Travel Ban

Experts at an early August international AIDS conference in Mexico City were full of praise for the United States for having reversed a 15-year-old law banning HIV-positive people from entering the country.

But nearly two months after President George W. Bush signed that act into law, his administration has yet to do what is required to put the new law into practice. Lawmakers and advocacy groups are wondering what is going on.

Last week, 58 Democrats in the House of Representatives went right to the top, writing a letter to Bush that urged him to take "swift action on this issue." The signees included California Reps. Barbara Lee, Democratic chief sponsor in the House, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, all California Democrats.

Last July 30, Bush signed into law a five-year, $48 billion bill to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world and to end the ban on HIV travelers. But before the statutory ban effectively can be ended, the department of Health and Human Services must write a new rule, submit it for public comment and complete it.

"We're working hard to revise the regulation, and it's our goal to have it completed during this administration," said HHS spokeswoman Holly Babin. She said it was "a time-consuming process, and we are giving it the attention it deserves in an effort to anticipate all issues and get it right."

HHS added HIV to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entry in 1987, a time of widespread fear and ignorance about the disease. The department in 1991 tried to reverse that decision but was opposed by Congress, which in 1993 went the other way and made HIV infection the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility.

While there is a cumbersome waiver process, the law has effectively kept out thousands of students, tourists and refugees and complicated the adoption of children with the HIV virus. No major international AIDS conference has been held in the United States since 1993 because activists or researchers who had the virus cannot gain entry. There also is the possibility that foreign nationals in the country with the virus might not seek treatment because of fears of being deported.

Only about a dozen countries around the world, including Libya, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, ban travel and immigration for people with HIV. Courtesy Associated Press