Russian Harvard Scientist Faces Deportation from the US

The administration of Donald Trump is threatening to deport a Russian scientist from Harvard University who had fled her country fearing political persecution. Xenia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (ICE) in February at Boston’s airport upon returning from a trip to Paris because she failed to declare biological samples in her luggage. The government then announced that her visa had been revoked and she would be deported to Russia. “It is true, the government is trying to deport Xenia,” wrote her attorney Gregory Romanovsky in an email to the French Agency. “She will have the opportunity to defend her asylum request, and we do not expect a deportation decision anytime soon,” he added. According to the court document filed against Petrova, she told authorities she fears arrest if she returns to Russia due to her participation in political protests. “We will continue to fight for Xenia’s freedom and the immigration system in the United States,” Romanovsky added. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has launched a campaign against illegal immigration with arbitrary arrests and deportations without trial. They also canceled entry visas and threatened to deport foreign students participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Meanwhile, the Trump administration cut funding to top universities, including Harvard, accusing them of allowing student movements opposing Israel’s deadly bombardments in Gaza to grow on their campuses.