Lots of African-American women, and some of their children, were exposed to HIV because of marriages to African men carrying the disease - because DHS officers who knew this were forbidden to tell the women of that danger.
During this time [2004-2008] immigrants needed proof they were HIV negative; an HIV positive test could bar the applicant from coming into the country and staying in the country.
Mind you, with anything in INS, there's always a waiver; you can waive that HIV status.
The American pattern of HIV being transmitted by homosexual sex was different from the pattern in Africa, where it usually happened in heterosexual encounters.
Sometimes the officers would seek to skirt the privacy ruling by telling both of them that the man had some health issues that needed to be sorted out in the hopes that the HIV matter came up later in a resulting conversation between husband and wife.
HIV is a dangerous disease now, but it was considerably worse at the time Lee was handling these cases.
Lee's new book on this and his other experiences with the service, After the Border: 42 Eye-Opening, Shocking, Crazy, Happy & Fun Stories from a Retired U.S. Immigration Officer, is available starting today in Kindle format.
https://cis.org/North/Federal-Policy-Facilitated-Spread-HIV-Says-Retired-DHS-Officer
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