AFC is appalled to learn that the U.S. government uses HIV status as cause for the cruel separation of immigrant and migrant families. In the Oversight of Family Separation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Hearing yesterday, Chief Brian Hastings of the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) stated that HIV status is a criteria used to separate families at the border. This new, insidious attempt at criminalizing HIV and AIDS hurts our community and stigmatizes people living with and vulnerable to HIV.
In addition to being cruel and inhumane, and completely antithetical to human rights, separating children from their parents because of HIV status ignores science and established U.S. policy.
Ultimately, parents who are living with HIV and AIDS pose no threat to their children; HIV is not transmitted casually. The non-communicability of HIV has been well established for a very long time. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and removed HIV from the list of communicable diseases after the Obama administration ended the HIV travel ban into the U.S. This decision finally aligned travel and immigration policies with science. Using HIV as just cause for excluding entry in the U.S. and separating immigrant families is not humane, just or based on science and sound public health policy.
Trump’s discriminatory, hateful zero-tolerance policies affect all of us. These practices completely contradict the administration’s plan to end the epidemic. Stay informed and contact your legislators to put a stop to this!
