US judge grants Russian-born Harvard scientist bail in immigration case
FILE PHOTO: Kseniia Petrova, 31, a Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University, poses for a jail booking photograph at the Ouachita Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, U.S. May 14, 2025. Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday ruled that the continued detention by immigration authorities of a Russian-born scientist at Harvard University was unjustified, removing a key hurdle to the researcher being released from U.S. custody more than three months after she was detained at an airport in Boston.
U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss said during a hearing in Burlington, Vermont that it appeared immigration authorities had detained Kseniia Petrova in February and canceled her visa without any factual or legal basis for doing so after discovering frog embryo samples in her luggage.
"What happened in this case was extraordinary and novel," Reiss said.
Reiss was not able to order Petrova's full release from government custody, as federal prosecutors in Boston earlier this month criminally charged her with illegally attempting to smuggle the frog embryo samples into the country.
She is now being held by the U.S. Marshals Service, and a judge in her criminal case would need to decide whether to grant her bail as well when she goes before the court as soon as next week.
But Reiss said bail in her related immigration case was appropriate as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has indicated that it intends to re-detain Petrova if a judge in her criminal case grants her bail.
"At today's hearing, we demonstrated that Kseniia is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk, and does not belong in immigration detention," her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, said in a statement.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Petrova, 31, was detained at Logan International Airport in Boston on February 16 on her return from a trip to France. Petrova, who works at Harvard Medical School, has said her boss asked her to bring back frog embryo samples for ongoing experiments.
Petrova's detention comes amid efforts by Republican President Donald Trump's administration to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill his hardline immigration agenda.
Federal judges in Vermont have similarly ordered immigration authorities to release from custody students at Tufts University and Columbia University who were arrested after engaging in pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus.
Reiss, who is presiding over a lawsuit Petrova filed challenging her immigration detention, said Petrova raised a substantial claim that "her current detention is the product of a process that has nothing to do with the merits of this case."
Reiss said the embryos were "non-hazardous, non-toxic, non-living, and posed a threat to no one," and that Petrova had established a likelihood of proving they did not qualify as the type of biological material she needed to declare to customs.
Reiss said that while Petrova asked at the airport to be allowed to return to France, the government instead detained her with the intent to deport her to Russia, a prospect Petrova has said she fears after protesting Russia's war in Ukraine. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
43 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Israeli military unleashes strikes on Syria after projectile launches
Security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa. PHOTO: REUTERS CAIRO - The Israeli military said it struck weapons belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria, in a second attack that Israel launched after reporting two projectiles were fired from Syria on June 3. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles. Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, the first major ones in nearly a month, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa. The Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said earlier that he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches. 'We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon,' Mr Katz said. The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards Israel had not been verified yet and reiterated that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency Sana reported. 'We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilise the region to achieve their own interests,' the Syrian foreign ministry added. Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades. The Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria towards Israel and fell in open areas. Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named 'Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,' an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. Reuters could not independently verify the statement. Syrian state media earlier reported an Israeli strike in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in 'significant human and material losses.' Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops. Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of Syria's military infrastructure. It also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the extremist past of the country's new rulers. Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Chinese researchers charged with smuggling fungus into US
The Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the US that causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - Two Chinese scientists have been charged with allegedly smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States that they planned to research at an American university, the US Justice Department said on June 3. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a statement. Jian is in US custody while Liu's whereabouts are unknown. The Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States that causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice. The fungus is classified in scientific literature as a 'potential agroterrorism weapon,' it said, and causes billions of dollars in losses each year. It causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock, it said. According to the complaint, Jian and Liu, her boyfriend, had both previously conducted work on the fungus in China. '(Liu) first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America... so that he could conduct research on it at the laboratory at the University of Michigan where his girlfriend, Jian, worked,' the Justice Department said. US Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr described the smuggling of the fungus into the United States as a 'national security' concern and emphasised Jian's membership in the Chinese Communist Party. 'These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a 'potential agroterrorism weapon' into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,' Mr Gorgon said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed last week to 'aggressively revoke visas' for Chinese students, a move condemned by Beijing as 'unreasonable' and 'discriminatory.' Dr Kseniia Petrova, a scientist from Russia at Harvard, is facing potential deportation after she failed to declare biological samples in her luggage upon returning from a trip to Paris. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Justice Department accuses two Chinese researchers of smuggling 'potential agroterrorism weapon' into US
FILE PHOTO: United States Department of Justice logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Justice Department accuses two Chinese researchers of smuggling 'potential agroterrorism weapon' into US WASHINGTON - U.S. federal prosecutors have accused two Chinese nationals of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen that had the potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon into the United States for research. The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday identified the pathogen as Fusarium graminearum, a fungus it said was classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon. In a statement it said that the fungus causes "head blight" in some crops and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses globally each year. According to an FBI criminal complaint, Zunyong Liu, 34, a researcher currently in China, brought the fungus into the United States while visiting his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian, 33, in July 2024. He admitted to smuggling in the fungus so he could conduct research on it at a University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend worked, according to the complaint. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the complaint, an examination of electronic communications between the two indicated that they discussed shipping biological materials and research being done in the laboratory prior to Liu's arrival. Jian and Liu were accused in the complaint of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud. Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said the pair's actions "posed an imminent threat to public safety." Jian was expected to appear in court in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday. A judge appointed a public defender, who could not be immediately reached for comment, to represent Jian. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
