Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist and researcher at Harvard University, was charged on Wednesday with one criminal count of smuggling goods into the country.
The criminal charge represents an escalation by the Trump administration in a case that has drawn international scrutiny from academics and scientists throughout the world.
Petrova, 30, was already facing deportation after failing to disclose frog embryos she brought into the country from France in February. After Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Petrova’s scientific samples, she was detained, her J-1 nonimmigrant visa was revoked, and she was transferred to a Louisiana detention center.
Petrova continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, which she fled in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, fearing political persecution. Petrova had been outspoken against the war.
“If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,” Petrova told The Associated Press last month.
A hearing on her case was held on Wednesday, and, according to The New York Times, a federal prosecutor told the judge that the government intends to deport Petrova back to Russia.
The Times reported that a bail hearing had just been scheduled for later this month, apparently setting the stage for Petrova’s release. According to the Times, Petrova’s lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, called into question the government’s timing, saying the criminal 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.”
“Almost immediately after the hearing, we were blindsided by the unsealing of a meritless criminal complaint,” Romanovsky said, according to the Times, noting the hearing had established the detention was unlawful.
“The timing of Kseniia’s transfer out of ICE custody into criminal custody is especially suspect because it happened right after the judge set a bail hearing for her release,” he continued.
The Associated Press contributed.
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