A Russian scientist, Kseniia Petrova, who has been working at Harvard University, was charged with smuggling frog embryos into the United States and is facing deportation after being detained by US immigration officials in February at Boston Logan International Airport.
The US District Attorney’s Massachusetts office revealed that Petrova could face up to 20 years in prison and hefty fines for the smuggling charges. The prosecutor’s office alleged that Petrova was aware of the requirement to declare the embryos upon entry into the US, as evidenced by her text messages.
Petrova’s lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, criticized the timing of the criminal charges, suggesting they were intended to portray her as a criminal justifying deportation efforts. He deemed the case against Petrova as baseless and highlighted that the charges were filed months after the alleged customs violation.
In an op-ed for The New York Times, Petrova shared her research endeavors and experiences during detention, expressing concerns about being deported to Russia due to her political activities, including protesting against the Ukraine war and supporting the impeachment of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Her research at Harvard focuses on aging and cellular composition, aiming to enhance life expectancy and develop treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer. Petrova emphasized the impact her absence had on her colleagues’ research, which had stalled in her absence.
Leon Peshkin, Petrova’s supervisor at Harvard, lauded her work, describing her as exceptional and the best he had seen in his two decades at the institution. Petrova is one of several non-citizen academics targeted for arrest or deportation by the Trump administration, despite not being associated with protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In her op-ed, Petrova recounted encounters with fellow detainees in Louisiana, including a woman separated from her daughter due to denied political asylum. She expressed a desire to return to her lab to continue her research, emphasizing ongoing data analysis awaiting completion.
The circumstances surrounding Petrova’s detention and the subsequent legal proceedings have raised questions about the treatment of non-citizen academics and researchers in the US. The case underscores the challenges faced by foreign scientists working in the country, especially amidst heightened immigration enforcement policies.
As Petrova awaits the outcome of her legal battles, the scientific community and advocates for academic freedom continue to monitor her case closely, emphasizing the importance of supporting scholars who contribute significantly to research and innovation.
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