A Russian scientist working at Harvard Medical School was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on February 16 when she was attempting to return from a trip to Paris.
Kseniia Petrova, a bioinformatician at the Kirschner Lab, was bringing back frog embryos at the request of a professor at a French lab Harvard is collaborating with, her attorney Gregory Romanovsky confirmed to Fox News.
According to Romanovsky, the sample was picked up in Paris and was supposed to be brought to Harvard and Petrova was unaware she needed to claim them at customs.
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US authorities at Boston Logan Internation Airport revoked her visa instead of following protocol, her attorney said.
“As upset as I am with ICE, they are not at fault and are just doing their job,” he says.
According to Romanovsky, her visa should never have been revoked and protocol for similar situations includes CBP seizing the item(s) and issuing a fine.
He also believes that instead of protocol CBP at Boston Logan Internation Airport decided to punish his client by removing her visa.
Petrova allegedly, when detained, was asked if she wanted the Russian consulate notified. This line of questioning became an issue causing fear for Petrova, who was previously detained in Russia for anti-war protests shortly after the attack on Ukraine, Romanovsky claims.
Friends of the scientist say when Petrova’s visa was revoked that she was told she would be deported to Russia, something her attorney says would have a devastating outcome as she is “almost certainly going to be jailed if she is sent back to Russia.”
Cora Anderson, who works with the Russian scientist, shared on Facebook that Petrova told CBP she feared political persecution and was instead sent by authorities to a detention facility.
“We had no idea initially what had happened to her since she was unable to send any messages or make any calls upon detention. She was moved to a facility in Vermont at first and then Louisiana where she is now. Where she is now is a jail that has space rented by ICE and is kept in a room with over 80 other female detainees,” Anderson posted.
Petrova is currently being held at Richwood Detention Facility in Louisiana and has an immigration court hearing on May 7 in Jena, Louisiana related to her asylum case.
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Her attorney is also challenging CPB’s actions, and a federal court hearing is scheduled for June 9 in the District of Vermont but is asking to expedite the hearing.
Until then, Petrova is still being detained indefinitely in a jail that has space rented by ICE and is kept in a room with over 80 other female detainees, according to her Facebook post and GoFundMe started by her friend and coworker.
“Despite having lawyers and the fact she did not do anything illegal in the first place, she is still there, and we have no idea when she will be paroled (or released, however simply released is unlikely),” Anderson said.
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