The Russian-born Harvard cancer researcher who has been locked in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility for the last 10 weeks released a statement blaming herself for failing to declare scientific samples she had packed in her luggage, but denied telling lies to immigration officials.
Kseniia Petrova, 30, flew from Paris to Boston on Feb. 16 with the frog embryo samples that her boss had asked her to bring back to the lab at Harvard Medical School.
The U.S. visa-holder said ICE officers questioned her before she was sent to the agency’s Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana.
Petrova said in her statement that she has “the utmost respect for the laws and institutions of the United States” and is “sincerely grateful to the United States” for the opportunity to do lifesaving work at a renowned institution.
“I take full responsibility for not properly declaring the frog embryo samples. What I do not understand is why the American officials say I am being held because I am a danger to the community and a flight risk,” she said.
“I only want to be in the lab working on research. That is my life’s purpose. That is what I’m all about.”
Petrova wanted to clarify what happened with the frog samples from her perspective.
“Because these embryos are non-toxic, non-hazardous, and non-infectious, I did not expect any issues in bringing them into the country,” she said. “I should have reviewed U.S. customs paperwork requirements. But as a scientist, I was more focused on getting the samples to the lab before they degraded to ensure we could continue the experiment.”
Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, told HuffPost that such errors usually result in a small fine.
But Petrova was told her visa would be taken away.
In her statement, Petrova explained how she was never asked whether she was carrying any “biological material” into the country when she first presented her passport at customs. Later, she said that immigration officers gave her a statement of the events that transpired at the airport for her to sign. She pointed out a mistake in the statement and believed that when she saw the female officer typing, the officer was making the correction.
“I never provided false information to any government official. Some of my words were misunderstood and inaccurately reflected in the statement that the officer presented for my signature,” Petrova said.
A self-described “nerd,” Petrova said she believes the officers may have mistaken her “nervous laugh” for irreverence and that certain texts she sent to colleagues “gave a misleading impression of me.”
Petrova studies early cancer detection. She wrote code that tells a computer how to read images taken by a cutting-edge new microscope at the forefront of cancer diagnostics — making her one of the only people who can analyze the images. With her absence, an element of cancer research has stalled.
Petrova told NBC News last month that ICE detention was like being in a “machine.”
“We are in this machine, and it doesn’t care if you have a visa, a green card, or any particular story. … It just keeps going,” she told the outlet.
The administration of President Donald Trump has targeted institutions of higher learning in its war against immigrants, detaining many students and academics who participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations. Officials likened the protests to terrorism and claimed that they put Jewish students at risk.
But the threats to immigrants have made it harder for the nation’s premier universities and institutions to recruit top talent, potentially stalling or setting back American scientific research in its entirety.
Petrova left Russia for the U.S. because she disagreed with the country’s war on Ukraine and feared reprisal, her lawyer said. If deported back to her home country, she could be prosecuted for voicing her dissent.
Her next hearing is scheduled in two weeks in Burlington, Vermont.
“The May 14 hearing on her release is critical,” Romanovsky said. “The immigration court is not likely to hear her asylum claim until sometime next year, and ICE is unlikely to release her on parole until that case is resolved.”
Petrova thanked the people who sent her books on scientific topics and came to visit her in detention from Boston.
“Their kindness has been a source of strength for me,” she said.