{shortcode-94905a659d2f0cbe428330e5a6b896f022aa14f6}

Five U.S. Representatives and a D.C. delegate sent the Trump administration a letter demanding the release of Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova on Tuesday, adding their voices to a growing group of legislators criticizing her arrest.

Customs and Border Police arrested Petrova in Boston Logan Airport after she allegedly failed to declare frog embryos she brought into the country. Her J-1 scholar visa was revoked following the February arrest, despite the argument from Petrova’s lawyer that the move overstepped CBP’s authority.

“Without evidence to support claims she is a flight risk or danger to the community, we strongly urge you to give due consideration to her request for release on parole while her case is pending,” the members of Congress wrote.

Representatives addressed the letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd M. Lyons. It included signatures from Representatives Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Henry “Hank” C. Johnson (D-Ga.), Bennie G. Thompson, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Al Green (D-Texas), and Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), as well as Washington, D.C., delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Petrova has spent nearly three months in a Louisiana detention facility awaiting a court decision that will either grant her release or order her return to Russia. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7, with a follow-up hearing date in July.

Last week, a Louisiana judge ruled the federal government’s case was legally insufficient, giving ICE a week to submit stronger evidence.

Officials previously arrested Petrova in Russia in 2022 for protesting against the country’s war in Ukraine. Deporting her to Russia, the Congress members wrote, would “endanger her life.”

“She has good reason to fear political retaliation for bravely protesting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for his impeachment,” they wrote.

In the letter, the representatives wrote that Petrova “has not done anything wrong except try to facilitate a request by her employer” and emphasized that she is not a security threat.

“While she did make a mistake, the penalty for improperly importing this non-toxic, nonhazardous frog material is a fine of up to $500, not detention or deportation,” they wrote.

A group of 17 U.S. senators similarly called for her release in early April.

College students and recent graduates have been the target of visa revocations and arrests in the first 100 days of Trump’s term. ICE agents detained Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar, in March after she published pro-Palestinian views in an op-ed. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student and pro-Palestine activist, was also detained by ICE agents in March.

Massachusetts delegates visited Öztürk and Khalil last week and detailed “appalling” conditions where the students are being “inadequately fed, kept in facilities with extremely cold temperatures and denied personal necessities and religious accommodations.” A DHS official rejected the claims as “unequivocally false.”

The representatives lodged similar claims of inadequate living conditions for Petrova, writing that “she is reportedly being held with at least 70 other detainees in the same cell.”

“We urge you to give due consideration to her contention that she is neither a flight risk nor a danger to our community, and to the dangers she could face in being deported to Russia,” they added.

A dozen Harvard students and recent graduates have had their visas revoked by the federal government, but they have since been restored in a sudden reversal. Thousands of international students across the country have not received a renewal.

The representatives emphasized Petrova’s contributions to Harvard research and called her continued detention “a great loss to the Harvard community and to our country.”

“Ms. Petrova is a highly skilled researcher, and the US greatly benefits from the work she does,” they wrote. “She is the kind of person we want to come to the US and help us in our scientific study where she has been recognized for diligence and dedication.”

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.