Judge rules CBP unlawfully canceled Harvard researcher's visa over frog embryos
Customs and Border Protection officials lacked the authority to cancel a Harvard scientist's visa after she was detained last year for failing to declare frog embryos at an airport security checkpoint, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born medical researcher at Harvard University, was stopped at Boston's Logan International Airport in February 2025 for carrying undeclared biological samples. Petrova was detained as the Trump administration moved to revoke hundreds of student visas as part of its immigration crackdown.
U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss granted Petrova's motion on Tuesday for partial summary judgment, declaring CBP's actions "arbitrary and capricious" and finding that officers lacked the legal authority to revoke her visa.
In the 21-page ruling, Judge Reiss said the revocation was "not in accordance with law" and was "in excess of [CBP's] statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations."
"There is no other ground that would authorize the visa cancellation by a CBP officer," Reiss wrote. "This unlawful action violated the APA, and the CBP's cancellation of Ms. Petrova's J-1 visa must be set aside."
According to court documents, Petrova was transporting the samples at the request of the leader of her research group at Harvard Medical School.
"Upon discovery [of] the samples following a search of her luggage, and despite her attempts to explain, the CBP officer failed to pursue the statutory and regulatory process for failure to declare an article in luggage," the original complaint states. "Rather, the officer marked [Petrova's] visa in her passport as canceled."
Petrova told the CBP officer she feared being returned to Russia, where she faced past persecution for her political activities. After being taken into custody, she requested to be returned to France -- at which point she was held in a detention center in Louisiana for four months, according to court documents.
"For over a year, Kseniia Petrova has maintained that CBP had no legal authority to cancel her visa on February 16, 2025," her attorney Gregory Romanovsky said in a statement.
A CBP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Romanovsky said that, since January, Petrova has been back in her lab at Harvard when he said she is "pursuing her life's calling and advancing important scientific research."
Petrova still faces separate criminal charges related to the airport incident, with a trial scheduled for later this year.
While she was in the Louisiana detention facility, Petrova told ABC News she believed her detainment was too harsh.
"I would like to say that something is completely, completely out of control here," Petrova said. "I think my case was an example of showing how really the system doesn't work."
