After 3 months in ICE detention, Kseniia Petrova case heads to court. Here's what to know

USA Today

13-05-2025

After 3 months in ICE detention, Kseniia Petrova case heads to court. Here's what to know A judge will hear the case of Harvard genetics researcher Kseniia Petrova, who has been in ICE custody since February.
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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka arrested outside ICE detention facility
Newark, NJ mayor and Democratic candidate for governor, Ras Baraka, was reportedly arrested outside of a recently opened immigrant detention center.
A lawsuit that could test the limits of the Trump administration's power to detain visa holders, including students and scholars, is poised to go before a federal judge.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss will hear arguments May 14 in the case of a Harvard scientist from Russia who alleges the Trump administration wrongfully detained her.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection canceled Kseniia Petrova's visa in February after she failed to declare scientific samples when she returned to Boston from France, and officers turned her over to ICE. Her attorney argues that CBP's actions were "arbitrary and capricious" and her detention illegal.
The Trump administration says it acted within its authority. Petrova "was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country," Homeland Security said in a statement.
Here's what to know about Petrova's case.
More: She's in ICE detention. From 1,500 miles away, his piano lulls her to sleep.
Who is Kseniia Petrova?
Petrova, 30, is a top-tier geneticist who worked for a Harvard Medical School lab on a J-1 work-study visa, where she conducted anti-aging and cancer research.
Before coming to Harvard, she was working on her native country's Genome Russia project, mapping the genetic variation of humankind, when she ran afoul of Vladimir Putin's government for protesting Russia's war on Ukraine.
She fled, and soon found her way to Harvard and another of the world's important genetics labs. Leon Peshkin, Petrova's supervisor, runs the lab that is working on one of the hottest fields in science: anti-aging research.
"I was struggling to find an applied mathematician and who understands biology," Peshkin told USA TODAY – until he found Petrova. "She was a perfect match."
What was Kseniia Petrova carrying into the country?
Peshkin asked Petrova to pick up samples of frog embryos from the Institut Curie in Paris to bring back to the lab. Previous shipments to the lab had been lost or damaged in transit, so Peshkin thought it would be more efficient if they were hand-carried.
Petrova has said she didn't believe she needed to declare the samples because they were not living; they were embedded in paraffin, chemically fixed, dehydrated and are "entirely harmless," according to her complaint in federal district court.
In a statement, the government said a K9 inspection of Petrova's luggage "uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits."
CBP has a webpage outlining its rules for importing biological materials into the United States.
The embryos were "incapable of growing or transmitting disease," Martin Chalfie, chair of the National Academies Committee on Human Rights, which defends scientists detained in connection with their scientific work, said in an amicus brief filed in federal court.
"Similar material can be found in high school and college biology laboratories throughout the United States," said Chalfie, a Nobel laureate in chemistry.
Why was Kseniia Petrova detained?
A U.S. customs officer initially stamped Petrova's passport, affirming her J-1 scholar visa when she landed at Boston's Logan International Airport in February. But at baggage claim, officers flagged her luggage for undeclared items.
Typically, CBP seizes items when they aren't properly declared and may issue a fine. In Petrova's case, a customs officer revoked her visa and asked if she wanted to withdraw her application for admission to the United States and return on the next plane to France, according to the complaint.
She indicated she would be willing to do so.
"At that point," according to the complaint, "the CBP officer asked Petrova: 'Would you like the U.S. government to contact the Russian government to let them know you are here?' followed by, 'Do you have fear or are afraid to return to your home country?'"
Petrova said she did fear returning to Russia due to political persecution, according to the complaint.
That fear claim triggered an asylum process, according to the complaint; CBP no longer allowed her to return to France, and instead began processing her for expedited removal by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE sent Petrova to a processing center in Vermont, then to the Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, where she has been detained for three months. She faces no civil or criminal charges.
Petrova's lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Vermont where Reiss presides as chief judge.
Who supports Kseniia Petrova?
Seventeen U.S. senators sent Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem a letter in March urging ICE to release Petrova while her asylum case is pending.
"Absent evidence that Petrova is a flight risk or a danger to the community, we strongly urge you to reconsider ICE's recent decision not to grant Petrova parole and exercise discretion within your authority to release her from detention while her asylum case is pending," they said in the March 31 letter.
"Moreover, we are deeply concerned about the possibility that Petrova could face persecution if deported to Russia," the senators said.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell on May 12 filed an affidavit supporting Petrova, saying the administration's high-profile detention of international students threatens the state's economy and the country's global leadership in scientific innovation.
"The Trump administration's actions targeting international students and academics sends a chilling message to talented students and academics around the world," Campell wrote, "that they risk detention, deportation and an end to their academic career in the United States at the whims of the federal government."