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Judge Frees Harvard Scientist ICE Tried to Deport to Russia

Kseniia Petrova, 30, spent four months in federal custody after returning from a vacation with frog embryo samples.

A Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos into the United States has been released on bail after spending four months in federal custody. In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended Kseniia Petrova, 30, at Boston Logan International Airport after she allegedly failed to properly declare frog embryo samples she had brought from Paris. The Russian-born scientist had her visa revoked and was held at an ICE facility in Louisiana, facing deportation to Russia, where she had previously been arrested for speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine. “If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,” Petrova told the Associated Press. A federal judge ordered her release from ICE custody in May, ruling that the immigration officers had acted unlawfully, and that neither Petrova nor the nonliving frog embryos posed a threat. However, she remained in federal custody after prosecutors in Massachusetts charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the U.S. That case is ongoing, and she must return to court next week for a hearing. Petrova, who says she didn’t realize the embryos needed to be declared, faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine if convicted.