A Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University, who has been in US immigration detention centre in Louisiana for several months, has now been criminally charged with smuggling frog embryos into the United States, and faces imminent deportation, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Kseniia Petrova, 31, had been in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Louisiana since her arrest in February after she attempted to enter America at Boston Logan international airport.
Petrova is still awaiting a decision by a federal judge whether she will be deported to Russia or not, where she fears she might be imprisoned. A hearing in the case took place in Vermont on Wednesday. In turn of events, prosecutors charged the Harvard researcher with one count of smuggling goods into the United States.
The individual was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.
A subsequent K9 inspection uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits.… https://t.co/T0bFUZUs01
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 22, 2025
The prosecutors said Petrova was taken into custody on Wednesday, and if found guilty of the criminal charges leveled against her, she faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
After being formally charged, Petrova was shifted out of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on Wednesday to a nearby Louisiana parish jail. The initial hearing in her case is scheduled for Thursday.
According to Petrova’s lawyer Gregory Romanovsky, the case and criminal charges pressed by the prosecutors are “meritless” as he questioned the timing of Petrova’s shifting to criminal custody, when the judge was scheduled to hear her bail plea on May 28.
“The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her,” Romanovsky said, Reuters reported.
The Department of Homeland Security in a statement said that Petrova was detained as she lied to federal officers about carrying substances into America. The department alleged messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”
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