Judge: Let Detained Scientist Out on Bail

UPDATE May 29, 2025 7:00 AM CDT

A federal judge says a Harvard scientist from Russia should be released on bail after she was detained by immigration officials, reports the New York Times. "There does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer's actions" against Kseniia Petrova, the judge out of Vermont wrote. Petrova was detained at Boston's Logan airport over frog embryo samples she was carrying into the country, but the judge found the reason suspect given that the embryos were "wholly non-hazardous, non-toxic, non-living, and posed a threat to no one." It's not clear what the administration's next steps will be.

May 17, 2025 11:30 AM CDT

A Harvard University researcher is set to be transferred from a Louisiana detention center to Massachusetts after a federal judge's ruling on Thursday. Kseniia Petrova, said to be 30 or 31 and born in Russia, has been detained since February and faces a charge of smuggling goods into the United States—specifically, frog embryo samples obtained during a vacation in France, per the AP. Petrova reportedly collected the samples at a French lab specializing in embryo research and brought them back through Boston's Logan International Airport, where US Customs and Border Protection questioned her.

Per a DOJ release, Petrova's duffel bag contained "a foam box containing clawed frog embryos in microcentrifuges, as well as embryonic samples in paraffin well stages and on mounted dyed slides." Petrova says she was unaware the samples needed to be declared. Authorities, however, allege messages on her phone indicated she intended to do just that—to smuggle the items in without declaring them. In one of the supposed texts, in responding to an individual who is said to have asked her how she planned to get the samples through customs, Petrova allegedly replied, "No plan yet. I won't be able to swallow them." After the airport stop, agents canceled her visa on the spot and took her into custody. Petrova's attorney, Gregory Romanovsky, maintains that the detention and visa cancellation had no legal basis.

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Petrova, who fled Russia in 2022, recently filed a petition for release, but a federal judge in Massachusetts charged her with smuggling shortly before her hearing date. The scientist has said that she fears being deported back to Russia due to her past political activism there, per the New York Times. If convicted, Petrova could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Her lawyer expects the transfer to Massachusetts will happen within weeks. The Department of Homeland Security claims she lied to federal officers, while Harvard says it's monitoring the situation. Petrova continues to contest the charges, saying she had no intention of evading the law. (Petrova recently penned an essay for the New York Times on her predicament.)