Latest news with #frogembryos
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE
A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova's behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE
A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova's behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer. 'It is excellent science,' Michael West, a scientist and entrepreneur in the biotech industry, testified on Petrova's research papers. He said he does not know Petrova, but has become acquainted with her published work, citing one in which she explains that 'by mapping embryonic development, novel ways of intervening in the biology of regeneration and aging.' West said that Petrova's medical research skills are highly sought after and that he himself would hire her 'in a heartbeat.' Petrova, 30, is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Louisiana. She is expected to be brought to Massachusetts as early as Friday in preparation for a bail hearing next week on the smuggling charge, lawyers said in court. Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research. As she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport in February, Petrova was questioned about the samples. She told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country. After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being canceled. After being detained by immigration officials, she filed a petition in Vermont seeking her release. She was briefly detained in Vermont before she was brought to Louisiana. Petrova was charged with smuggling earlier this month as U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington set the hearing date on her petition. Reiss ruled Wednesday that the immigration officers' actions were unlawful, that Petrova didn't present a danger, and that the embryos were non-living, non-hazardous and 'posed a threat to no one.' Petrova's lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, had asked Reiss to issue an order to stop the possibility of ICE re-detaining her if she is also released from detention in Massachusetts. Reiss said she was reluctant "to enjoin an executive agency from untaking future actions which are uncertain' and would rely on U.S. Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Hartman's comments that the government has no intention at this time to re-arrest Petrova. Romanovsky had said Customs and Border Protection officials had no legal basis for canceling Petrova's visa and detaining her. The Department of Homeland Security had said in a statement on the social media platform X that Petrova was detained after 'lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.' They allege that messages on her phone 'revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.' Harvard had said in a statement that the university 'continues to monitor the situation.'
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE
A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova's behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer. 'It is excellent science,' Michael West, a scientist and entrepreneur in the biotech industry, testified on Petrova's research papers. He said he does not know Petrova, but has become acquainted with her published work, citing one in which she explains that 'by mapping embryonic development, novel ways of intervening in the biology of regeneration and aging.' West said that Petrova's medical research skills are highly sought after and that he himself would hire her 'in a heartbeat.' Petrova, 30, is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Louisiana. She is expected to be brought to Massachusetts as early as Friday in preparation for a bail hearing next week on the smuggling charge, lawyers said in court. Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research. As she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport in February, Petrova was questioned about the samples. She told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country. After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being canceled. After being detained by immigration officials, she filed a petition in Vermont seeking her release. She was briefly detained in Vermont before she was brought to Louisiana. Petrova was charged with smuggling earlier this month as U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington set the hearing date on her petition. Reiss ruled Wednesday that the immigration officers' actions were unlawful, that Petrova didn't present a danger, and that the embryos were non-living, non-hazardous and 'posed a threat to no one.' Petrova's lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, had asked Reiss to issue an order to stop the possibility of ICE re-detaining her if she is also released from detention in Massachusetts. Reiss said she was reluctant 'to enjoin an executive agency from untaking future actions which are uncertain' and would rely on U.S. Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Hartman's comments that the government has no intention at this time to re-arrest Petrova. Romanovsky had said Customs and Border Protection officials had no legal basis for canceling Petrova's visa and detaining her. The Department of Homeland Security had said in a statement on the social media platform X that Petrova was detained after 'lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.' They allege that messages on her phone 'revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.' Harvard had said in a statement that the university 'continues to monitor the situation.'
CNN
5 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Russian Harvard Researcher Kseniia Petrova Awaits Bail Hearing Amid Deportation Proceedings
A US district court judge in Vermont ruled that Kseniia Petrova, the Harvard Medical School researcher from Russia accused of smuggling frog embryos, could be released from ICE custody on bail. The researcher remains in custody until a bail hearing on criminal charges, expected next week. Petrova, 30, was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on February 16 and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bail hearing was held in Burlington, Vermont, federal district court before Chief District Judge Christina Reiss Wednesday, though Petrova joined via Zoom from a facility in Louisiana where she is being held. Petrova is among the hundreds of foreign academics whose visas have been revoked amid Trump's deportation crackdown. Petrova is facing deportation to Russia, where her attorneys say she fears persecution due to her previous political activism against the war in Ukraine. 'Ms. Petrova has presented compelling evidence of improper government conduct—including efforts to jail and prosecute her—over a minor customs violation,' her attorneys wrote in a brief to the court this week. 'If re-detained by ICE, there is a substantial and well-founded risk that she will be unlawfully removed to Russia—despite her past political persecution there.' Petrova failed to declare the biological materials and lied to federal officers about carrying them into the country as she was going through a customs search at the airport in February, the Department of Homeland Security has said. During an inspection federal officers found the biological materials even though Petrova said she didn't have any such materials, the complaint said. Messages were also found on Petrova's cell phone which indicated she had been warned by colleagues about the need to follow proper protocol when bringing materials through the airport, court documents show. 'I'm told this would normally result in a warning or a fine. Instead, my visa was revoked and I was sent to a detention center in Louisiana, where I have spent the past three months with roughly 100 other women. We share one room with dormitory-style beds,' Petrova wrote in an essay published this month in The New York Times. In an unusual escalation earlier this month, Petrova, who has been fighting deportation proceedings since her arrest, was also charged with felony smuggling charges in Massachusetts. Massachusetts US Attorney Leah Foley said Petrova lied to officials about having biological material in her baggage. 'The rule of law does not have a carve out for educated individuals with pedigree,' Foley said in a recorded video statement. 'The US visa that Ms. Petrova was given, which was revoked by customs officials as a result of her conduct, is a privilege, not a right.' While Petrova has admitted to failing to declare the frog samples, the airport incident should have resulted in a fine and been treated as a minor violation, Petrova's lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky has said. Instead, Petrova's visa was immediately revoked, and she was detained in what her attorney has described as a government overstep. Following the government's new charges, a federal magistrate judge ordered Petrova's transfer to Massachusetts. Petrova's attorney filed habeas and bail motions in Vermont where she was held shortly after her initial detention before being transferred to Louisiana. A habeas motion requires the person holding a detainee to justify the detention. Attorneys for the Department of Justice have told the court Petrova's bail motion should be considered moot given the new criminal charges and because Petrova has been transferred from ICE to criminal custody at the Richwood Correctional Facility in Monroe, Louisiana, documents show. 'Ms. Petrova is not in the immediate custody of any of the defendants named in her original habeas petition and her challenge to her prior immigration detention is moot,' government attorneys wrote in the brief. In their response, Petrova's attorneys accuse the government of trumping up criminal charges in a bid to prevent her bail and motions from being heard in federal court. 'The government should not be encouraged to bring criminal charges against ICE detainees in order to moot their habeas petitions. This is especially important since it is the government's position that the mere arrest under criminal charges—whether genuine or pretextual—would suffice to moot an ICE detainee's habeas petition,' Petrova's attorneys wrote. Petrova is eager to get back to her lab, where she uses a one-of-a-kind microscope that can accomplish the 'almost impossible' task of measuring certain tissue samples without damaging them, she wrote in her New York Times essay. It's a development she calls 'utterly revolutionary' – and one that could aid in the research of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's. 'There is a data set that I'm halfway finished analyzing. I want to go home and finish it,' Petrova wrote.
CNN
5 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Russian Harvard Researcher Kseniia Petrova Awaits Bail Hearing Amid Deportation Proceedings
Federal agencies Animal stories RussiaFacebookTweetLink Follow A US district court judge in Vermont ruled that Kseniia Petrova, the Harvard Medical School researcher from Russia accused of smuggling frog embryos, could be released from ICE custody on bail. The researcher remains in custody until a bail hearing on criminal charges, expected next week. Petrova, 30, was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on February 16 and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bail hearing was held in Burlington, Vermont, federal district court before Chief District Judge Christina Reiss Wednesday, though Petrova joined via Zoom from a facility in Louisiana where she is being held. Petrova is among the hundreds of foreign academics whose visas have been revoked amid Trump's deportation crackdown. Petrova is facing deportation to Russia, where her attorneys say she fears persecution due to her previous political activism against the war in Ukraine. 'Ms. Petrova has presented compelling evidence of improper government conduct—including efforts to jail and prosecute her—over a minor customs violation,' her attorneys wrote in a brief to the court this week. 'If re-detained by ICE, there is a substantial and well-founded risk that she will be unlawfully removed to Russia—despite her past political persecution there.' Petrova failed to declare the biological materials and lied to federal officers about carrying them into the country as she was going through a customs search at the airport in February, the Department of Homeland Security has said. During an inspection federal officers found the biological materials even though Petrova said she didn't have any such materials, the complaint said. Messages were also found on Petrova's cell phone which indicated she had been warned by colleagues about the need to follow proper protocol when bringing materials through the airport, court documents show. 'I'm told this would normally result in a warning or a fine. Instead, my visa was revoked and I was sent to a detention center in Louisiana, where I have spent the past three months with roughly 100 other women. We share one room with dormitory-style beds,' Petrova wrote in an essay published this month in The New York Times. In an unusual escalation earlier this month, Petrova, who has been fighting deportation proceedings since her arrest, was also charged with felony smuggling charges in Massachusetts. Massachusetts US Attorney Leah Foley said Petrova lied to officials about having biological material in her baggage. 'The rule of law does not have a carve out for educated individuals with pedigree,' Foley said in a recorded video statement. 'The US visa that Ms. Petrova was given, which was revoked by customs officials as a result of her conduct, is a privilege, not a right.' While Petrova has admitted to failing to declare the frog samples, the airport incident should have resulted in a fine and been treated as a minor violation, Petrova's lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky has said. Instead, Petrova's visa was immediately revoked, and she was detained in what her attorney has described as a government overstep. Following the government's new charges, a federal magistrate judge ordered Petrova's transfer to Massachusetts. Petrova's attorney filed habeas and bail motions in Vermont where she was held shortly after her initial detention before being transferred to Louisiana. A habeas motion requires the person holding a detainee to justify the detention. Attorneys for the Department of Justice have told the court Petrova's bail motion should be considered moot given the new criminal charges and because Petrova has been transferred from ICE to criminal custody at the Richwood Correctional Facility in Monroe, Louisiana, documents show. 'Ms. Petrova is not in the immediate custody of any of the defendants named in her original habeas petition and her challenge to her prior immigration detention is moot,' government attorneys wrote in the brief. In their response, Petrova's attorneys accuse the government of trumping up criminal charges in a bid to prevent her bail and motions from being heard in federal court. 'The government should not be encouraged to bring criminal charges against ICE detainees in order to moot their habeas petitions. This is especially important since it is the government's position that the mere arrest under criminal charges—whether genuine or pretextual—would suffice to moot an ICE detainee's habeas petition,' Petrova's attorneys wrote. Petrova is eager to get back to her lab, where she uses a one-of-a-kind microscope that can accomplish the 'almost impossible' task of measuring certain tissue samples without damaging them, she wrote in her New York Times essay. It's a development she calls 'utterly revolutionary' – and one that could aid in the research of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's. 'There is a data set that I'm halfway finished analyzing. I want to go home and finish it,' Petrova wrote.
