Judge Rules U.S. Unlawfully Canceled Harvard Medical School Researcher’s Visa

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the government unlawfully canceled the visa of Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova, arguing that Customs and Border Protections overstepped their jurisdiction.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina C. Reiss found that CBP exceeded its authority when it canceled Petrova’s visa after she allegedly brought frog embryos into the United States from France last February. The judge ruled that the agency’s action amounted to an improper expansion of its enforcement powers.

In the Tuesday ruling, Reiss ruled that the cancellation of Petrova’s visa was “arbitrary” and “capricious,” saying that the federal government used the alleged customs violation as a pretext for revoking her visa.

“The Federal Respondents cannot justify an unlawful visa cancellation for a customs violation by relying on what transpired after the visa cancellation took place,” she wrote. “Even were the court to accept their approach, it would not explain their refusal to allow Ms. Petrova to return to France and their efforts to deport her to Russia.”

Petrova was returning from a research trip to France when CBP officers canceled her visa, citing her failure to declare the embryos upon arrival at Boston Logan International Airport, which she has said she intended to use in her work. Petrova has denied that she lied to Border Patrol officials when she was stopped.

Petrova was initially given the option to return to France or be deported. But after she told a CBP officer she feared political persecution if she was sent back to Russia, authorities detained her and transferred her to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana.

Her detention came amid a broader wave of enforcement actions targeting foreign researchers under the Trump administration. Petrova’s attorneys challenged the visa revocation in two petitions, arguing that a customs violation — even if proven — did not provide legal grounds for canceling her visa.

The case later expanded beyond immigration proceedings. In May, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts brought criminal charges against Petrova in an unusual move, accusing her of smuggling. A grand jury indicted her on one count of smuggling and two counts of making false statements. She remained in custody until mid-June, when a judge ordered her release.

In a separate proceeding, a Massachusetts District Court judge granted Petrova the right to work last December. Her attorney, Gregory Romanovsky, said she has since resumed her research at Harvard. Petrova first moved to the United States in 2023.

Petrova’s attorneys said the decision carries implications beyond the case.

“Today’s ruling makes clear that, as broad as CBP’s authority is at the border, its actions cannot be arbitrary or capricious,” Romanovsky said in a statement. “The United States remains a nation of laws – and those laws apply to all.”

—Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at abbysg.97. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at amannsm.38. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.