Protecting Non-US Citizens from Removal Terminating HIV/AIDS Treatment

Part I of this Note introduces the problem of removal of non-US citizens with HIV/AIDS in the United States to countries where treatment is unavailable, and discusses case law in which the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have recognized a protection from removal that would terminate HIV/AIDS treatment. Part II examines the US domestic legal protections potentially available to non-US citizens in the United States whose removal will terminate their HIV/AIDS treatment, as well as the application of each of these legal protections to those with HIV/AIDS contesting deportation to countries lacking adequate access to HIV/AIDS treatment. Part III argues that while legal protections available to non-US citizens in this situation have proven inadequate, the United States may expand US domestic law to prohibit removal terminating HIV/AIDS treatment. The United States may also apply the American Declaration consistently with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights case law, or recognize a customary international law that compels their protection under the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment or treatment