Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=53901

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Politics and Policy

Washington Post Examines Treatment of MSM, WSW In Mexico, Latin America, Ability To Access HIV Treatment, Seek Asylum in U.S.

Asylum applicants, U.S. lawyers and Hispanic advocates say it has become increasingly difficult for men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women from Mexico and other Latin American countries to obtain asylum in the U.S. because of the countries’ improved treatment of homosexuality, liberalized laws and expanded HIV/AIDS treatment, according to the Washington Post (http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=53901). Arthur Leonard, a professor at New York Law School, said, “For a time, it seemed like it was a slam-dunk if you were gay, from Mexico and filed for asylum in the United States,” adding, “But there’s been a turning point. The gay rights movement has started to make progress in Mexico, and it’s a little harder to show” that asylum is warranted.Leaders throughout the region who consider asylum as way to access better treatment of people with HIV say the “subtle, unofficial shift in immigration policy” has significant public health implications, the Post reports. Although advocates praise the progress on rights for MSM and WSW in Latin America — where it has been argued that the culture of “machismo” places them in danger — they say that it may take decades to reverse “deeply ingrained” attitudes toward homosexuality, which some believe are linked with the spread of HIV in the region, according to the Post. According to the Post, there are no official figures for the number of such cases that have been granted asylum in the U.S. because the

Department of Homeland Security does not track asylum cases by categories such as sexual orientation. DHS officials said that there has been no change in policy regarding asylum for MSM and WSW.Jorge Saavedra — director of

Censida, the National Center for the Control of HIV/AIDS in Mexico — said that MSM in Mexico have been most affected by HIV/AIDS and that homophobia has been the main cause of the epidemic. “People think the homophobia is under control, which is not true,” Saavedra said, adding, ‘Homophobia in Mexico is really high.” According to Saavedra, although Mexico has a relatively low overall HIV/AIDS prevalence of 0.3% of the general population, routine medication shortages and discrimination and violence against MSM and WSW still necessitate some HIV-positive people’s need for asylum.The Post also reports that stigma and a lack of education have complicated prevention efforts and that some hospital patients and employees are routinely screened for HIV without permission. Martin Martinez Sanchez, who works at a private hospital in Mexico City where this practice takes place, said, “If they test positive, they are not admitted.” The story profiles several experiences, including that of Arturo Lopez, an HIV-positive MSM, who has been trying to get asylum into the U.S. (Connolly, Washington Post, 8/12). The article was supported by a Kaiser Family Foundation mini reporting fellowship (http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/2008-Kaiser-Mini-Fellows.cfm).

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Gay, HIV-Positive Man from Pakistan Seeks Refuge in the United States

LGBT, HIV/AIDS, and Immigrant-Rights Organizations Submit Brief in Support of His Asylum Claim

http://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_inreSK080408

(Falls Church, VA, August 4, 2008)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed an amicus brief with the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia on behalf of a number of other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), HIV/AIDS, and immigrant-rights organizations in support of a gay Pakistani man with HIV who is seeking asylum in the United States.

S.K. is a gay Pakistani man seeking asylum and withholding of removal because he fears persecution based on his sexual orientation and HIV status. Under Pakistani law, being gay is punishable by death and LGBT people are forced to live in secrecy and constant fear of exposure.

The Immigration Judge ignored the serious risk of persecution that S.K. faces and denied his application for asylum. The judge held that S.K., who has HIV, and was in a committed relationship with a man in Minnesota, could avoid persecution by hiding his sexual orientation, marrying a woman, and having children. The Board of Immigration Appeals originally upheld the Immigration Judge’s decision and is now reviewing the case a second time.

“No one should have to live in fear that just by being themselves they could be punished with prison or death by their own government,” said Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director of NCLR. According to the amicus brief filed today, the Immigration Judge also failed to recognize that S.K.’s traumatizing diagnosis of HIV that had progressed to AIDS understandably delayed his filing.

“In addition to the many difficulties he was already facing, S.K. was diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, and the understandable psychological and physical difficulties he experienced immediately following that diagnosis delayed his filing for asylum,” explains Claudia Valenzuela, supervising attorney for the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Detention Project, a program of Chicago-based Heartland Alliance. “Our country’s asylum laws were written to take into account situations like S.K.’s, in which individuals’ circumstances may change long after they arrive in the United States and make them subject to renewed danger in their home country.”

S.K. appealed those initial rulings to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. After reading briefs submitted to the Eighth Circuit by S.K. and NCLR, the government took the unusual step of requesting that the case be remanded back to the Board of Immigration Appeals so that the Board could clarify its decision. NCLR worked with a number of other LGBT, HIV/AIDS, and immigrant-rights groups including the National Immigrant Justice Center, Immigration Equality, the ACLU, AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, and International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care to submit a joint amicus brief in support of S.K. to the Board of Immigration Appeals on July 31, 2008.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
http://www.nclrights.org/

The National Immigrant Justice Center, a partner of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, is dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. NIJC’s National Asylum Project on Sexual Minorities works to secure protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive individuals who are victims of persecution in their home countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
http://www.immigrantjustice.org/