Russian HMS Researcher Detained at Louisiana ICE Facility After Visa Revocation

Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova is detained at a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her research visa was revoked last month because she inadvertently failed to properly declare frog embryos she brought into the country.

Petrova was returning to the U.S. from a personal trip in France when Customs and Border Protection officials halted her at Boston Logan International Airport on Feb. 16 and revoked her visa.

Petrova has filed two petitions through an attorney aimed at securing her release from the detention facility. Her lawyer argued that her failure to declare an object at customs — a violation which can result in up to a $500 fine and the object’s seizure — did not grant CBP the authority to cancel her visa.

Petrova — a Russian citizen who was arrested in Russia in 2022 for protesting President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — was initially given a choice after being stopped by CBP: return to France and reapply for a visa, or be deported and barred from entering the U.S. for five years.

She opted to return to France, but when she told a CBP officer who questioned her that she feared political persecution if she returned to Russia, the agency decided to detain her instead, according to one of the petitions filed by her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky.

“They definitely overstepped their authority by punishing Kseniia through the immigration penalties, as opposed to what they were supposed to do,” Romanovsky said in an interview.

Petrova's attorney has filed two petitions for her release from the detention center. By Courtesy of Gregory Romanovsky

After being detained by CBP, Petrova was transferred to a correctional facility operated by ICE in Chittenden, Vermont. Less than two weeks later, she was sent to another ICE correctional facility in Louisiana, where she is currently being held with at least 70 other inmates, according to Romanovsky.

If Petrova is deported, she will return to France rather than Russia, Romanovsky said. She currently holds a Schengen visa, which allows her to stay in countries in the European Union’s Schengen area for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.

Though Petrova was arrested for a customs violation, her detention comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up arrests of international students across the country for their associations with pro-Palestine campus protests. On Tuesday, Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested and transferred to an ICE detention center in Louisiana.

Romanovsky filed a habeas corpus petition on Petrova’s behalf on February 23. The petition argued the cancellation of her visa was unlawful because the CBP erroneously followed a process known as “expedited removal,” which allows noncitizens to be quickly deported without a full hearing before an immigration judge.

Expedited removal is usually reserved for people who try entering the U.S. without proper entry documents or who seek entry through fraud or misrepresentation. Petrova had not violated the terms of her visa and had traveled in and out of the U.S. several times without issue, according to the petition.

“There was no cause for CBP to instead follow an entirely different process, that of expedited removal,” the petition argued.

Romanovsky called the petition a “Hail Mary,” saying it was very difficult to challenge an expedited removal order and that the CBP has “so much discretion in the law.”

“My hopes are not too high on this particular element of the lawsuit,” he said.

A hearing for the habeas corpus petition is scheduled for June 9, though Romanovsky said he is trying to move the hearing to an earlier date.

Romanovsky has also filed an asylum petition contending that Petrova has a “well-founded fear of future persecution” if she were deported from the U.S., given her past political activism criticizing the Kremlin for its war in Ukraine.

“She cannot return to Russia without being jailed or harmed,” Romanovsky said. “It’s going to be a suicide for her to go back.”

Petrova is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on May 7 for a pretrial hearing, according to Romanovsky. He added that he expects neither legal action will conclude for several months.

In addition to the two petitions, Romanovsky submitted a request for Petrova to be released on parole. He said her parole was initially declined on March 14, but that ICE officials didn’t immediately inform him that the petition was declined.

More than two dozen Harvard affiliates who know Petrova submitted letters alongside the initial parole request vouching that she wouldn’t flee the country or pose a danger to citizens — the two factors considered in keeping someone detained during an ongoing case.

Romanovsky formally requested that ICE reconsider his petition for Petrova’s release on parole after he was informed it was declined. He specifically asked the agency to consider the accompanying letters, which he said ICE didn’t seem to consider in its initial review.

While Romanovsky said Petrova was an ideal candidate for parole, he cautioned that there was a significant possibility that ICE would not allow Petrova to be released on parole, saying that the agency had been in “zero-tolerance, no-release mode” under the Trump administration.

“It all falls on deaf ears,” Romanovsky said. “They’re not releasing many people, if anyone, at the moment.”

Spokespeople for ICE and CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An HMS spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement that the school is “monitoring this situation.”

Leonid L. Peshkin, an HMS lecturer who worked closely with Petrova, said in an interview that she “has been probably the strongest person I’ve seen in 15 or so years at Harvard Medical School.”

Peshkin, who speaks with Petrova frequently, said that she is “cheerful” given the circumstances and is hoping to return to Cambridge soon.

“She just wants to come back to do her science,” Peshkin added.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.