A federal judge in Vermont ruled on Wednesday that the continued detention of Ksenia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist at Harvard University, by immigration officials was unwarranted. This decision removes a significant barrier to her release from U.S. custody, following her detention at Boston’s Logan Airport over three months earlier.
During a hearing in Burlington, U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss stated that immigration officials appeared to have detained Petrova in February and revoked her visa without any valid legal or factual justification after finding frog embryo samples in her luggage. “What transpired in this case is both extraordinary and unprecedented,” Reiss remarked.
However, she was unable to grant Petrova an unconditional release, as federal prosecutors in Boston charged her earlier this month with attempting to unlawfully smuggle the frog embryos into the U.S. Consequently, the U.S. Marshals Service is now responsible for her custody, and a judge handling her criminal case will need to determine whether to allow her bail, alongside scheduling her court appearance for as early as next week.
Judge Reiss noted that granting bail in Petrova’s immigration case was appropriate since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to detain her again if the judge permits her to post bail in the criminal matter. “During today’s hearing, we showed that Ksenia poses no threat to the community, is not a flight risk, and does not belong in immigration detention,” said her attorney, Gregory Romanovsky.
The Justice Department opted not to comment on the case.
Petrova, age 31, was apprehended at Logan International Airport on February 16 after returning from France. Employed at Harvard Medical School, she has claimed that her supervisor requested she bring back frog embryo samples for ongoing research.
Her detention occurs within the context of actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration to increase deportations and revoke student visas, as part of a broader effort to advance its strict immigration policies.
Additionally, federal judges in Vermont have similarly ordered the release of Tufts University and Columbia University students detained for their pro-Palestinian activism.
Judge Reiss, who is overseeing a lawsuit filed by Petrova against her immigration detention, indicated that Petrova has raised significant concerns regarding how her detention is unrelated to the actual merits of her case. She asserted that the embryos were “non-hazardous, non-toxic, non-living, and posed no threat to anyone,” indicating that Petrova has a strong case for demonstrating that the biological material did not require declaration to customs.
Furthermore, Reiss pointed out that while Petrova had expressed a desire to return to France while at the airport, the government’s response was to detain her with plans to deport her to Russia, a possibility Petrova fears, especially given her opposition to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
