HIV-positive man fingerprinted at US border, run through FBI list & told to go back to Canada!!!!11

[Bluebear]

The Surrey, B.C., man was on his way to Bellingham, Wash., for the Remembrance Day long weekend last November to shop, with the Canadian dollar trading at about $1.07 against the greenback. After lining up for four hours to reach the U.S. customs booth, he was asked where he worked.

"I said I was on disability. He said what's my disability. I said I have HIV," said the 47-year-old, who was diagnosed in 1989.

The customs officer told him he needed a special visa waiver to enter the country, even though Canadians do not require a visa to travel to the United States.

"He hauled me into a backroom. ... He put on a set of rubber gloves to hold each of my fingers. Nobody else wore rubber gloves. Then he fingerprinted me, photographed me, ran me through the FBI's most-wanted list and told me to go back to Canada and not return until I came back with a waiver," Mr. Rooney said. "I felt like I was being treated like a terrorist."...

The United States is one of 13 countries, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, that ban HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.

HIV is the only medical condition singled out as a basis for inadmissibility under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, told the newspaper the restriction was ridiculous in an e-mail.

"This law was written when little was known about the disease and destructive stigmas often won the day," Kerry wrote. "With new knowledge about the disease, we must make it clear that this discriminatory, Draconian law will no longer be tolerated."

Kerry attached an amendment to the global AIDS relief bill to end the practice. It was approved this month by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and still faces a full Senate vote before going to the House, he said.

http://www.aegis.org/news/upi/2008/UP080325.html
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/the-us-vs-the-h.html

[babylonsister]

1. This stinks horribly. I'm glad one good man is addressing this travesty. nt

[Bluebear]

3. Yes indeed! And one good woman, Rep. Barbara Lee, in the House

In a press conference call convened on March 11 by the Human Rights Campaign, the Capitol Hill gay lobby, Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry and California Representative Barbara Lee, also a Democrat, spoke confidently about the prospects for such an amendment being added to the reauthorization of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Bush's global HIV initiative.

http://www.eatg.org/news/newsitem.php?id=14507

[babylonsister]

5. Thanks! I love Barbara Lee, too, and missed that. nt

[Ian David]

2. We only want people coming here if we can safely have sex with them.

In fact, if we make McCain president, we'll require all people visiting the U.S. to not only be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, but to also pledge that they will not decline sexual liaisons with any American citizen who makes a request.

[RKOwens]

4. Hahaha...

...haha.

[LeftyMom]

6. They should also be screened for hotness.

Ugly people should be turned away at the border, lest they clog up American bars on the weekend.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. I learned recently that Andrew Sullivan couldn't apply for citzenship because of his HIV

status.

[gateley]

8. Introduced 20 years ago...

I was volunteering at the Chicken Soup Brigade in Seattle and it was pretty well known even then that HIV was only transmissible by body fluids.
And there has been PLENTY more learned since then -- the thought that this law is still in effect is shocking.

Thanks to the SFRC (and why would it be in their domain, anyway?) and to Kerry, et al, for taking action on this.

[uppityperson]

9. k&r

[Benhurst]

10. Would it be too much to expect our two front runners to join Senator Kerry in

speaking out against this?

[ksdemocratsforthewin]

11. Yeah... That sucks. Hard. Hope he sues. nt

[Bluebear]

13. He won't get anywhere, this is US policy, disgraceful as it is. nt

[eilen]

12. But anyone carrying TB can cruise over our Southern border, and do

They really need to change the HIV rule.