ID Number: 33932
Maker: Inkworks Press; ACT UP San Francisco; HIV Task Force of the Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in SF
Technique: offset
Date Made: Late 1980s
Place Made: United States: California, Berkeley
Measurements: 43.2 cm x 28 cm; 17 in x 11 in
Main Subject: HIV/AIDS; Immigration
Materials: paper (fiber product)
Digitized: Y

Full Text:
Mandatory HIV Testing Is Here! INS Immigrants: The US government has already forcibly tested more people for HIV antibodies than any other government in the world. By 1990 our government will have tested approximately 4 million immigrants for the HIV antibody. Those testing positive are subject to exclusion and deportation. Current US laws that exclude HIV positive immigrants from living here scapegoat them from importing AIDS to the US. Most undocumented persons have been living here for up to a decade and consider the US their home. This is where they were infected, in the country with the largest reported AIDS caseload in the world. In all likelihood, it is the US that has been exporting the virus. To hundreds of HIV positive immigrants the threat of deportation is akin to a death sentence. Most come from Third World countries where little or no health care is available for the majority of the population, much less for people with AIDS. This government harassment has created a ghetto of fear and isolatoin within our own "model" city. Fear of deportation prevents undocumented people from seeking health or social services and as a consequence may help spread AIDS. "Undocumented" immigrants who have lived here for years have paid taxes and contributed to Social Security. Now they are being denied the services they paid for. Despite the rhetoric of the Statue of Liberty, immigrants have always been economically exploited and simultaneously scapegoated for our problems. Immigrants do not cause unemployment, crime or AIDS. Tourists, visiting scientists, visitors needing treatment, family members of US citizens, and others are also subject to exclusion under the HIV discrimination rule. This is unacceptable. People with AIDS do not spread the virus, the ignorance does. As a community we have faught back attempts to instigate mandatory testing and reporting of US citizens. Now these same policies are being perpetuated against and even more disenfranchised population. The constant threat of deportation makes it impossible for most immigrants to speak out or even defend themselves. Already the Immigratino and Naturalization Service (INS) is reviewing several hundred cases of HIV positive immigrants. Who has spoken up? Will You? Write to your Congressional representatives. Write to Richard Norton, Associate Commissioner of Examinations, INS, 425 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20536. Send tax deductible contributions to the HIV Task Force of the Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rigths in SF. Join ACT-UP/SF 1-415-563-0724. Fight Aids! Not People with AIDS! [union bug]

Acquisition Number: 2010-155

Copyright Status:
Copyright status unknown; may be protected by copyright law.