By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Oct 27 2009, 2:48 PM |
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The Obama administration will soon officially announce a change in
rules to allow HIV-positive foreign nationals to enter the country, according
to Immigration Equality.
Steve Ralls, an Immigration Equality spokesperson, said the final rule change has moved from the Department of Health & Human Services to the
White House Office of Management & Budget, which will officially announce the
change.
“Immigration Equality believes that repeal is imminent,” he said.
“Our expectation is the publication will happen very soon, and following a
potential short window between publication and implementation, the HIV travel
and immigration ban will be a thing of the past.”
Ralls said the announcement from OMB could come as soon as Wednesday.
Last year, former President George W. Bush signed into law, as
part of the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,
a provision removing the HIV travel ban from federal statutes.
The law returned authority to HHS on whether HIV should stay on a
list of communicable diseases barring foreign nationals from entering the
United States.
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