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yesterday

Judge Grants Bail to Harvard Researcher in Immigration Case; She Remains Detained on Smuggling Charge

Her release hinges on a Massachusetts court ruling on her bail following a Vermont judge’s finding that her visa revocation was unlawful.

Kseniia Petrova, 31, a Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University, poses for a jail booking photograph at the Ouachita Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, U.S. May 14, 2025. Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
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Overview

  • Judge Christina Reiss ruled in Burlington that ICE lacked legal or factual grounds to cancel Petrova’s visa and granted her bail in the immigration proceedings.
  • Petrova remains in U.S. Marshals Service custody under a felony smuggling charge after authorities discovered undeclared frog embryos in her luggage.
  • A Massachusetts court will decide her criminal bail next week as prosecutors maintain she misled officials about carrying the biological samples.
  • Department of Homeland Security has signaled plans to deport her to Russia, where she fears imprisonment for her anti-war activism.
  • Harvard colleagues and biotech experts testified that the frog embryos were inert and vital to her cancer and aging research, warning her detention undermines academic freedom.