HIV and Immigration

Last week I attended a conference on HIV/AIDS and Immigration. The legalities of HIV+ status and residence in the United States is inadmissible, tenuous at best. In the 1980s, Senator Jesse Helms, a total homophobe, helped to push legislation making it impossible for HIV + people from traveling to the US. If a resident alien's HIV status were to become positive while he/she is living in the US, their health status would be grounds for deportation. What wavers exist are heterosexist in nature, privileging families and heterosexual relationships. It's possible for an HIV+ person to get a waver from INS if he/she has a spouse, child, or grandchild living here.