Editing HIV/AIDS in the United States (section)

=== Travel restrictions ===
In 1987, the [[Department of Health and Human Services]] (HHS) included HIV in its list of "communicable diseases of public health significance," denying immigrants and short term foreign visits from anyone who tested positive for the virus.<ref name="hivexclusion">{{Cite web |title=Federal Register Volume 52, Issue 167 (August 28, 1987) |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2018-title8/html/USCODE-2018-title8-chap12-subchapII-partII-sec1182.htm |access-date=April 6, 2020 |website=govinfo.gov |publisher=Office of the Federal Register |pages=32540–32544 |archive-date=March 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318032701/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2018-title8/html/USCODE-2018-title8-chap12-subchapII-partII-sec1182.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="usc8">{{Cite web |date=1988 |title=United States Code: Immigration and Nationality |url=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/uscode/uscode1988-00200/uscode1988-002008012/uscode1988-002008012.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/uscode/uscode1988-00200/uscode1988-002008012/uscode1988-002008012.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=April 6, 2020 |website=Library of Congress |publisher=Office of the Law Revision Counsel |page=1246}}</ref> In 1993, the US Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, removing the HHS' authority to dictate HIV as a "public health significance," and explicitly including HIV as a cause for denying immigrants and foreign visitors entry into the US.<ref name="byndinad">{{Cite report |url=https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/movingbeyondinadmissibility.pdf |title=Moving Beyond the U.S. Government Policy of Inadmissibility of HIV-Infected Noncitizens (PDF) |last1=Nieburg |first1=Phillip |last2=Morrison |first2=J. Stephen |date=March 1, 2007 |pages=7{{hyphen}}19 |access-date=February 2, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite act|type= National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act|index=Sec. 2007|date=1993|legislature=103rd Congress|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/senate-bill/1}}</ref>  Anyone seeking US citizenship during the HIV ban was required to undergo a medical exam during the legalization process - testing positive would permanently deny the applicant entry into the country.<ref name="imm_mexcal">{{Cite journal |last1=Morin |first1=Stephen F |last2=Carrillo |first2=Héctor |last3=Steward |first3=Wayne T |last4=Maiorana |first4=Andre |last5=Trautwein |first5=Mark |last6=Gómez |first6=Cynthia A |date=November 2004 |title=Policy Perspectives on Public Health For Mexican Migrants in California |journal=Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes |volume=37 |issue=Supplement 4 |pages=S252–S259 |doi=10.1097/01.qai.0000141254.61840.05 |pmid=15722867 |s2cid=1962566 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The law extended to include medication, where foreign travelers could be arrested for having antiretroviral drugs in their carry-on luggage. A famous example was in 1989, when a Dutch traveler to Minnesota was arrested for "several days" because he was carrying [[AZT]] in his luggage.<ref name="byndinad" />

During the turn of the 21st century, people who were HIV positive and seeking temporary visas or vacationing to the US had to avoid revealing their status on application forms, and either plan for their medication to be sent to the US or stop taking their medication.<ref name="mahto2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Mahto |first1=M |last2=Ponnusamy |first2=K |last3=Schuhwerk |first3=M |last4=Richens |first4=J |last5=Lambert |first5=N |last6=Wilkins |first6=E |last7=Churchill |first7=DR |last8=Miller |first8=RF |last9=Behrens |first9=RH |date=May 2006 |title=Knowledge, attitudes and health outcomes in HIV-infected travellers to the USA |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/103757/1/HIV%20Medicine%20-%202006%20-%20Mahto%20-%20Knowledge%20%20attitudes%20and%20health%20outcomes%20in%20HIV%E2%80%90infected%20travellers%20to%20the%20USA.pdf |journal=HIV Medicine |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=201–204 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-1293.2006.00371.x |pmid=16630031 |s2cid=23404829 |access-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-date=September 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917140137/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/103757/1/HIV%20Medicine%20-%202006%20-%20Mahto%20-%20Knowledge%20%20attitudes%20and%20health%20outcomes%20in%20HIV%E2%80%90infected%20travellers%20to%20the%20USA.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Eventually the US began offering temporary admission waivers for people who were HIV positive. As stated in an interoffice memorandum in 2004, foreign nationals who were HIV positive could qualify for the waiver for either humanitarian/public interest reasons, or being "attendees of certain designated international events held in the United States".<ref name="waivers">{{Cite report |url=https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/Archives%201998-2008/2004/kandv_hiv110204.pdf |title=Exception to Nonimmigrant HIV Waiver Policy for K and V Nonimmigrants (PDF) |last=R. Yates |first=William |date=November 2, 2004 |publisher=U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/Archives%201998-2008/2004/kandv_hiv110204.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In early December 2006, President [[George W. Bush]] indicated that he would issue an executive order allowing HIV positive people to enter the [[United States]] on standard visas. It was unclear whether applicants would still have to declare their HIV status.<ref name="Russell2006">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=Sabin |date=December 2, 2006 |title=Bush to ease rule limiting HIV-positive foreign visitors |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Bush-to-ease-rule-limiting-HIV-positive-foreign-2544720.php |access-date=March 21, 2010 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |publisher=Hearst Communications |archive-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130202100511/http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-12-02/news/17323943_1_hiv-positive-world-aids-day-international-aids-conferences |url-status=live }}</ref>

In August 2007, Congresswoman [[Barbara Lee]] of California introduced {{USBill|110|h|3337}}, the HIV Nondiscrimination in Travel and Immigration Act of 2007. This bill allowed travelers and immigrants entry to the United States without having to disclose their HIV status. The bill died at the end of the [[110th United States Congress|110th Congress]].<ref name="BBC2009">{{Cite web |date=July 6, 2009 |title=Activist helps US HIV law change |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8136456.stm |access-date=April 26, 2018 |website=BBC News |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045426/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8136456.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2008, President George W. Bush signed {{USBill|110|h|5501}} that lifted the ban in statutory law. However, the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services]] still held the ban in administrative (written regulation) law. New impetus was added to repeal efforts when Paul Thorn, a UK tuberculosis expert who was invited to speak at the 2009 [[Pacific Health Summit]] in Seattle, was denied a visa due to his HIV positive status. A letter written by Mr. Thorn, and read in his place at the Summit, was obtained by Congressman [[Jim McDermott]], who advocated the issue to the Obama administration's Health Secretary.<ref name="BBC2009" />

On October 30, 2009, President [[Barack Obama]] reauthorized the [[Ryan White]] HIV/AIDS Bill which expanded care and treatment through federal funding to nearly half a million.<ref name="obamawh">{{Cite web |last=Crowley |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Crowley |date=October 30, 2009 |title=Honoring the Legacy of Ryan White |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/10/30/honoring-legacy-ryan-white |access-date=March 21, 2010 |website=[[whitehouse.gov]] |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |archive-date=April 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412133508/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/10/30/honoring-legacy-ryan-white |url-status=live }}</ref> The Department of Health and Human Services also crafted regulation that would end the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban, effective in January 2010.<ref name="obamawh" /> On January 4, 2010, the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services]] and [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] removed HIV infection from the list of "[[communicable diseases]] of public health significance," due to its not being spread by casual contact, air, food or water, and removed HIV status as a factor to be considered in the granting of [[Visa (document)|travel visas]], disallowing HIV status from among the diseases that could prevent people who were not U.S. citizens from entering the country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 19, 2010 |title=Final Rule Removing HIV Infection from U.S. Immigration Screening |url=https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/laws-regs/hiv-ban-removal/final-rule-technical-qa.html |access-date=January 2, 2017 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321041134/https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/laws-regs/hiv-ban-removal/final-rule-technical-qa.html |url-status=live }}</ref>