Our Views: HIV entry ban finally ending
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For years, the United States has barred entry into this country by people with HIV or AIDS. Others with communicable diseases — often, more easily communicable than AIDS — did not face a similar ban.
Championed by the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., the ban was more a matter of prejudice than policy.
Now, new rules will treat those with the disease on the same terms as others. President Barack Obama said the new immigration rules will take effect early next year.
That ends a 22-year ban that put the United States in the company of only a few backward nations, including such oases of tolerance as Libya and Moldova.
In 1987, the Department of Health and Human Services added the illness to the list of communicable diseases that disqualified a person from entering the United States.
The department tried in 1991 to reverse its decision but was opposed by Congress, which made HIV infection the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds to bar visitors or immigrants to the United States.
The law effectively has kept out thousands of students, tourists and refugees, and has complicated the adoption of children with HIV. No major international AIDS conference has been held in the United States since 1993, because HIV-positive activists and researchers cannot enter the country.
While we commend the Obama administration for this action, we note that the reform process began under President George W. Bush, who pushed significant U.S. support to save lives from the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
This newest step reflects bipartisan progress not only against disease but against unreasoning fear.
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