{"id":28621,"date":"2025-05-28T18:15:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28621"},"modified":"2025-05-28T18:27:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:27:46","slug":"judge-finds-government-acted-illegally-in-russian-scientist-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28621","title":{"rendered":"Judge Finds Government Acted Illegally in Russian Scientist Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">The judge said a customs officer had acted improperly in stripping Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, of her visa after she failed to declare research samples she was carrying into the country.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A federal judge on Wednesday said she would grant bail to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/11\/science\/russian-scientist-ice-detained-harvard.html\" title>Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist<\/a> employed by Harvard University, in an immigration case stemming from Ms. Petrova\u2019s failure to declare scientific samples she was carrying into the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer\u2019s actions\u201d in stripping Ms. Petrova of her visa on Feb. 16, Christina Reiss, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Vermont, said in a court hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She added that \u201cMs. Petrova\u2019s life and well-being are in peril if she is deported to Russia,\u201d as the government has said it intends to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While traveling to France on vacation, Ms. Petrova agreed to carry back samples of frog embryos from an affiliate laboratory at the request of her supervisor at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the samples were discovered during an inspection of Ms. Petrova\u2019s baggage at Logan Airport in Boston, the customs official canceled her visa on the spot and started deportation proceedings. She was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, where she remained for more than three months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the end of the hearing on Wednesday, Judge Reiss said that \u201cwhat happened in this case was extraordinary and novel,\u201d and that if she did not take action in the case \u201cthere will be no determination\u201d that Ms. Petrova\u2019s rights had been violated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-kbghgg\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171quhb\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F05%2F28%2Fscience%2Frussian-scientist-harvard-charges.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F05%2F28%2Fscience%2Frussian-scientist-harvard-charges.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F05%2F28%2Fscience%2Frussian-scientist-harvard-charges.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F05%2F28%2Fscience%2Frussian-scientist-harvard-charges.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The judge said a customs officer had acted improperly in stripping Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, of her visa after she failed to declare research samples she was carrying into the country.A federal judge on Wednesday said she would grant bail to Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist employed by Harvard University, in an immigration case stemming from Ms. Petrova\u2019s failure to declare scientific samples she was carrying into the country.\u201cThere does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer\u2019s actions\u201d in stripping Ms. Petrova of her visa on Feb. 16, Christina Reiss, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Vermont, said in a court hearing.She added that \u201cMs. Petrova\u2019s life and well-being are in peril if she is deported to Russia,\u201d as the government has said it intends to do.While traveling to France on vacation, Ms. Petrova agreed to carry back samples of frog embryos from an affiliate laboratory at the request of her supervisor at Harvard Medical School.When the samples were discovered during an inspection of Ms. Petrova\u2019s baggage at Logan Airport in Boston, the customs official canceled her visa on the spot and started deportation proceedings. She was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, where she remained for more than three months.At the end of the hearing on Wednesday, Judge Reiss said that \u201cwhat happened in this case was extraordinary and novel,\u201d and that if she did not take action in the case \u201cthere will be no determination\u201d that Ms. Petrova\u2019s rights had been violated.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28623,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28624,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28621\/revisions\/28624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}