DOJ charges Harvard researcher who expressed fears over being returned to Russia
The Justice Department on Wednesday federally charged a Harvard medical researcher who was detained at a Boston airport over "noninfectious and non-toxic frog embryos" found in her luggage that prosecutors allege she was attempting to unlawfully smuggle into the United States.
The charges against Kseniia Petrova were announced just hours after her attorneys appeared in federal court in Vermont for a habeas hearing where they argued against her potential deportation back to Russia, where she has faced persecution previously for her political activities.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said Wednesday that Petrova, who was being held in a detention center in Louisiana, was taken into federal custody following the unsealing of the charges.
A member of Petrova's legal team told ABC News she had been moved to a federal prison facility.
"No matter how tough the government wants to be on immigration enforcement, they have to follow the law," Petrova's attorney Gregory Romanovsky said in a statement to ABC News. "At today's hearing in U.S. District Court in Vermont, we established that the cancellation of Kseniia's visa was based on her alleged customs violation. The law does not allow this."
"Almost immediately after the hearing, we were blindsided by the unsealing of a meritless criminal complaint. The timing of Kseniia's transfer out of ICE custody into criminal custody is especially suspect because it happened right after the judge in Vermont set a bail hearing for her release," Romanovsky said. "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."
During Wednesday's habeas hearing in Vermont, a federal judge in Vermont pressed the DOJ on the government's decision to revoke Petrova's visa after she was detained over the frog embryos.
Petrova, according to a complaint filed in February, told the CBP officer that she feared being returned to Russia, where she faced past persecution for her political activities, and instead requested to be returned to France -- at which point she was detained.
"You are asking for her removal to Russia, correct?" U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss asked government lawyers at Wednesday's hearing.
"Yes, your Honor," said DOJ attorney Jeffrey Hartman.
During the hearing, Judge Reiss asked Hartman on what authority did the CBP seek to revoke Petrova's visa.
"Where does a Customs and Border Patrol officer have the authority on his or her own to revoke a visa?" Judge Reiss asked. "And it's got to be somewhere, because there's no way that person has kind of an unlimited determination. Isn't the only authority to impose a fine?
In response, Hartman said that Petrova lied about the embryos when she was questioned by CBP.
"A person who makes a material misrepresentation and seeking admission is inadmissible," Hartman said.
Judge Reiss said she didn't see the argument made by DOJ as grounds for removal.
Petrova appeared remotely at the hearing from the detention center in Louisiana where she has been held since she was detained. During the hearing, Hartman argued that the federal court in Vermont has no jurisdiction over Petrova's hearing and said the proper venue is a Louisiana immigration court.
"But she is only detained there because you moved her," Judge Reiss said.
The judge scheduled a bail hearing for May 28.
Petrova previously told ABC News in an interview that after CBP officers searched her luggage and asked her about the samples, she told them about her research at Harvard and how she was hoping to bring the samples back to her lab.
"It would be a great opportunity to bring these samples back and to finish their preparation in our lab in Boston, and to profile them there," Petrova said.
She told ABC News she believes her detainment was too harsh.
"I would like to say that something is completely, completely out of control here," Petrova said. "I think my cases was an example of showing how really the system doesn't work."
