01/04/2025
WHEN YOU THINK OF TRUMP AS A RUSSIAN AGENT EVERYTHING HE DOES MAKES SENSE.
Former Russian scientist Kseniia Petrova, now of Harvard Medical School, arrived at Boston Logan international airport on 16 February from a work trip to France when she was stopped by U.S. authorities. They revoked Petrova’s visa and told her that she was to be deported to Russia. Petrova said that she feared political persecution but was still sent by authorities to a detention facility.
Kseniia Petrova’s Harvard research supervisor, Leon Peshkin, said on Thursday that the researcher had good reason to fear being returned to Russia because she had publicly protested the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its first days, called for the impeachment of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and was arrested. She escaped and managed to flee to Georgia, before eventually going to the U.S. to continue her research on genomes.
Romanovsky, her lawyer, said Petrova had been carrying scientific samples of frog embryos that she was bringing back from a French lab at the request of her boss as part of a research project.
“She was supposed to declare that item. She did not,” he said. “She had no previous experience with bringing samples. She didn’t really think this through. She didn’t look up the requirements.”
But he argued that in such circumstances, CBP is only meant to seize the item and impose a fine of about $500, and that it had no reason to merit cancelling her visa.
Peshkin told The Washington Post that the embryos were “non-toxic” and that he had made a “huge mistake” in asking her to bring them back.
MORE: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/27/russian-scientist-harvard-medical-school-ice-detention?CMP=share_btn_url
Need an Urgent Migration Solution?AMO has 50+ years of combined experience in Immigration and Refugee
