HIV Travel, Immigration Action Kit

On June 1, 1991, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under great pressure from conservatives, suspended plans supported by virtually all public-health experts and extended the ban on HIV-positive travelers and immigrants entering the United States. The Centers for Disease Control, a branch of HHS, had received 35,000 postcards and letters opposed to ending the exclusion -- most of them generated by right-wing religious broadcasters. In Congress a campaign to keep the HIV exclusion was led by Representative William Dannemeyer (Republican, California).

A new public comment period extends for 60 days, until August 2. We must make our voices heard by then.

Proposal: Ongoing Letter, Postcard Groups

Beyond this immediate issue, we must organize a permanent balance to the massive mail generated by TV hustlers and right- wing mailing lists. We must end the hijacking of public policy by hate artists with their own personal, political, or financial agendas.

The reason for the unbalanced mail is that most people are reluctant to write to public officials because they fear that they do not know enough; no such reluctance, however, deters fanatics following instructions from their leader. People need to know that they do not have to be experts to write to their elected representatives or to other public officials. The officials already have access to experts; they also need to know the public's concerns and values regarding how they do their jobs.

What is needed to take public policy back from fanatics? We need thousands of individuals throughout the country who will keep informed through contact with national organizations, obtain information packets, and call together friends and associates for postcard and letter-writing brunches, parties, study groups, church meetings, etc. If ten people send five letters or postcards each to different officials on one or more issues, then that one meeting can affect public policy -- especially by giving experts and officials the support they need to do what they know is right. Thousands of people regularly holding such meetings -- either frequently, or only when called in emergencies -- could permanently change the destructive political atmosphere now prevailing in this country.

* Anyone, anywhere can organize letter-writing groups; all that's needed is willingness to speak publicly on the issue. The organizer can choose any national group to work with -- without waiting for a local group to get its act together. Almost all other activist and volunteer work is very difficult to begin unless a suitable local group is already functioning -- a small but critical roadblock which keeps thousands of people inactive.

* The organizer who sets up the letter writing -- brings the information packets and supplies such as postcards or envelopes, and leads discussion or answers questions when needed -- need not be the same as the one who calls the people together. In fact, an optional letter-writing focus can be provided for a party, meeting, or other event which is happening anyway.

* The groups can include persons who are sympathetic but not otherwise involved with AIDS, reaching out to multitudes of potential allies, and building coalitions among healthcare, arts, peace, rights, environment, labor, civic, religious, and other groups.

* Besides sending correspondence, the groups can brainstorm about how to involve others -- for example, by using contacts to get information into newsletters or fundraising mailings which may go to thousands of people. (Even tax-exempt organizations usually can spend a fraction of their resources on political work.)

Writing to public officials need not detract from other AIDS work. In fact, it can be the first, easiest step to bring in new people who are concerned about issues but not yet active. Few other activities allow people to contribute, with personal creativity if they want, starting the first day of their involvement.

Copy this Action Sheet now to help get tens of thousands of postcards and letters to the Centers for Disease Control before August 2.

HIV Travel, Immigration: How to Be Heard

To be officially counted, your written comment (letter or postcard) must be received on or before August 2. Send it to:

Director, Division of Quarantine Center for Prevention Services Centers for Disease Control, Mail Stop E-04 Atlanta, GA 30333

It should ask that AIDS or HIV not be listed as grounds for excluding travelers or immigrants from the United States.

It could also ask that Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan adapt, without amendments, the final rule proposed by his department, published in the Federal Register on January 23, 1991. This rule lists only active tuberculosis as a "communicable disease of public health significance" excluding persons from admission to the United States.

All comments sent to the office above will be available for public inspection Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in Room 1327E, 1644 Tullie Circle, Atlanta, Georgia.

You might also send postcards or letters to:

The Honorable Roger Porter Assistant to the President for Economic
and Domestic Policy The White House Washington, DC 20500

Attorney General Dick Thornburgh Department of Justice 10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20530

Louis Sullivan, M. D. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20201

And also to your U. S. Representative and both Senators -- either at their local office, or in Washington; addresses can be obtained from your phone book under U. S. Government listings, or by calling the Capitol switchboard, 202/224-3121. Letters can be addressed to The Honorable (name).

Handwritten letters (or individually typed) are best -- especially for elected officials, such as members of Congress. For other government officials, such as those listed above, letters are still best -- but postcards can be almost as good, even those from organizations with preprinted messages on them.

All correspondence needs at least your name, address, and signature, and a clear message telling which side you are on. It should be individually mailed; petitions with many names on the same document count less than separate pieces of mail.

Reasons for Ending HIV Travel and Immigration Exclusion

Note: Your letter or postcard can be as long or as short as you like. Pick one or more of the following reasons -- whatever most appeals to you -- or other reasons. It's best to write in your own words, but it's OK to use our wording if you want.

* Health policy should be made by health professionals -- not by politicians and ideologues. Over 100 medical, service, government, religious, and other organizations -- including the American Public Health Association, American Red Cross, and American Foundation for AIDS Research -- are on record in support of the official proposal of Health and Human Services that only active tuberculosis be on the list of diseases excluding persons from admission to the United States.

* The great majority of persons who tested positive and now face deportation have lived in the U. S. for over nine years -- required in order to qualify for the immigration Amnesty program for undocumented U. S. residents. Almost certainly they were infected here. Deporting them to all parts of the world, often into areas where HIV is not already present -- and with no thought whatever to prevention services there, let alone treatment -- is unconscionable, a public-health nightmare, certain to help spread the epidemic worldwide and bring the United States into international disrepute.

* Advocates of exclusion say it will save money, because HIV-positive immigrants will get AIDS and need to be cared for at public expense. In fact, all evidence points to a miniscule financial impact. Relatively few people are allowed to immigrate to the United States in any case, and of those who have applied so far, fewer than one in a thousand have been found to be HIV positive. The rate of HIV infection is much lower outside the United States than inside it.

[For example, immigrant-rights groups have learned that of 84,000 applicants for refugee status who were screened as of about the first of this year, only 23 had tested positive; confirmed figures are not available, however. These tests for refugees were all done at Federal expense.]

If possible cost to the government were really the issue, then other diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease would also be listed as grounds for exclusion. But nobody wants to add them to the list. HIV has been singled out only because of discrimination -- not to avoid public expense.

* Continued exclusion of persons with HIV threatens to disrupt the Eighth International Conference on AIDS, the major AIDS meeting of 1992, scheduled for May in Boston; ironically, this meeting's subtitle is "A World United Against AIDS. " Widespread anger at the same policy, in Europe and elsewhere, led to boycotts of the San Francisco Conference in June 1990 by dozens of government and non-government organizations, and probably thousands of individuals. It is the policy of the International AIDS Society, a major sponsor of the annual Conferences, not to sponsor them in countries which do not allow free travel of delegates.

* What about a compromise to allow short-term travelers but not permanent immigrants? This would still deport people infected in the United States to countries throughout the world -- an unconscionable "AIDS export policy." Few AIDS organizations would support such a plan. And it would probably be impossible under current law, which has no provision for keeping two lists, one for visitors and one for immigrants.

* Exclusion of HIV-infected immigrants or travelers gives people the wrong messages: that AIDS is casually contagious; or that one can protect oneself by avoiding certain people, instead of avoiding high-risk behaviors.

* Exclusion of foreigners by the U. S. will likely lead to retaliation by other countries against U. S. citizens -- including persons with HIV traveling abroad for medical treatment, or to attend AIDS conferences.

* Such exclusion policies give people all over the world a reason not to be tested for HIV. If no one knows they are positive, they can cross international borders with very little chance of any challenge.

What's important now is to get postcards and letters to the Centers for Disease Control -- and other public officials if possible -- before August 2. You can assist by writing your own letter, then helping your friends and associates write theirs.

National Organizing: Where to Call

In the two weeks since the public learned that the travel and immigration ban would continue, several organizations have begun national campaigns to support the recommendation of the Public Health Service that persons with HIV not be excluded from the United States. These are the national campaigns we know about at press time:

* National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in Washington, D. C., has called for an International Day of Action on or about June 26; demonstrations will be held in U. S. cities and abroad. NGLTF is also asking people to write letters to the Centers for Disease Control. For more information, call Robert Bray or Urvashi Vaid, 202/332-6483. (NGLTF will also hold a June 25 town-hall meeting in Washington, D. C. on international gay, lesbian, and AIDS issues.)

* Mobilization Against AIDS, in San Francisco, is starting a national postcard and education campaign. For more information, call Ken McPherson, 415/863-4676.

* AIDS Action Council, in Washington, D. C., is also asking people to write letters. For more information, call 202/293- 2886.

* Human Rights Campaign Fund, in Washington, D. C., is sending postcards to all its members, starting a letter-writing campaign in 25 areas of the U. S., and using its "Speak Out" political-message program. For information, call 202/628-4160.