Kseniia Petrova is a scientist at Harvard Medical School. Born in Russia, Petrova's been busy developing computer scripts essential for decoding the findings of a new kind of microscope. It's a device so unique that it has the potential to lead to astounding breakthroughs in the early detection of cancers. Unfortunately, she's fallen a little behind in her research as she's been detained by ICE for the past two months, locked up at the Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana.
Dr. Leon Peshkin, a principal research scientist at Harvard's Department of Systems Biology and Petrova's manager and mentor, received a call from Customs and Border Protection on Feb. 16 after agents detained Petrova at Logan International Airport in Boston for failing to declare samples of frog embryos to be used in scientific research.
"We just got a call saying, 'She's denied entry. That's all we can tell you to protect her privacy,'" he said. Peshkin added that the caller didn't disclose Petrova's whereabouts, leaving him scrambling to track her down.
Romanovsky said that CBP typically imposes two penalties for such customs violations: the forfeiture of the items and a fine, usually around $500, and that "for a first-time violation, the fine is typically reduced to $50." Instead, officials canceled Petrova's J-1 scholar visa.
According to Petrova, when she was asked if she had any substances in her luggage that customs authorities should know about, she told them that yes, she had the frog embryos in her luggage. But, instead of giving her a fine, the federal government's increasingly hostile immigration enforcers opted to screw her over
If ICE has its say, Russia could have its way with Petrova: she's currently wanted by Putin's thugs for protesting against the invasion of Ukraine.
So, a few years down the road, if you wind up with a cancer that could have been treated if it was caught early enough, you can thank the hardworking asshats at ICE for styming progress on that paradigm shifting microscope.
It's no wonder so many academics, American-born ones included, are opting to get the hell out of the United States. If this is how the best and brightest working in the nation are treated, why the hell would anyone working at a university want to hang around?
