Harvard scientist's visa was unlawfully canceled, judge finds

The ruling by a federal judge in Vermont that U.S. Customs and Border Protection unlawfully canceled Kseniia Petrova's visa handed her a key legal victory.

A federal judge in Vermont ruled that Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova’s visa was unlawfully canceled after she was detained at an airport over biological samples she was carrying, handing her a key legal victory in a case that has raised questions about the limits of government power at the border.

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In a decision issued Tuesday, the court said “the undisputed facts reveal that Ms. Petrova’s visa was impermissibly canceled.”

Petrova, a Russian-born researcher at Harvard University’s Kirschner Lab, has argued for more than a year that the cancellation was unlawful. She was stopped at Boston Logan International Airport last February after returning from Paris. Her visa was canceled; she was later placed into immigration proceedings and detention. This disrupted her groundbreaking work on advanced imaging technology that has the potential to transform cancer diagnostics, according to fellow researchers.