Massachusetts Attorney General Files Amicus Brief Calling for Release of HMS Researcher

{image id=1359457 align=left size=large byline=true caption=Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell speaks at a watch party held by the Massachusetts Democratic Party during the November 2022 elections. Campbell on Monday filed an amicus brief calling for the release of Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova."}

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell filed an amicus brief in support of Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova, calling for her immediate release from a Louisiana detention facility.

The brief — filed on Monday in a Vermont District Court — condemned the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to detain Petrova. Customs and Border Patrol officials arrested the Russian-born cancer researcher in February, after she allegedly failed to declare frog embryos at the Boston Logan International Airport.

In the brief, Campbell wrote that Petrova is “stuck in a nightmare of a situation.”

“Her visa was cancelled unlawfully, she was denied admission to the United States based on the unlawful cancellation of that visa, and she is incarcerated in Louisiana seemingly indefinitely based on an expedited removal order that was never signed,” the brief read. “This situation is unjustifiable and unlawful.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on Campbell’s brief.

In a statement accompanying the brief, Campbell said that Petrova’s detention is “not an isolated incident.” She broadly slammed the Trump administration’s actions against international students — including revoking student visas and arresting Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk— as a “gross abuse of federal power.”

“This is just the latest example of the Trump Administration’s reckless and cruel misuse of power to punish and terrorize non-citizen members of the academic community,” Campbell said in the statement.

In the brief, Campbell emphasized the negative effects of Trump’s threats to international students on Massachusetts’ higher education ecosystem — and the state’s economy.

“Noncitizen students are vital to the success of the Commonwealth’s academic institutions,” the brief read. Campbell wrote that international students add nearly $4 billion to the state’s economy through “tuition, living expenses, and related spending,” citing estimates from the Association of International Educators.

“These students and academics bring diverse perspectives that enhance the Commonwealth’s educational environments, with international students and scholars fostering global awareness and cross-cultural understanding in classrooms and research settings,” the brief read.

Campbell argued that Trump’s actions targeting international students — including Petrova’s detention — put the future of academia in the Commonwealth at risk.

“By creating an atmosphere of fear, the Trump Administration has threatened the Commonwealth’s communities, economy, and standing as a research hub and a leader in higher education,” the brief read.

Campbell joins a growing group of government officials who have called for Petrova’s release since her February arrest — including Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92, who praised Campbell’s brief in a statement to The Crimson.

“Kseniia Petrova’s detention is another example of the Trump Administration going after people without criminal records, ignoring due process and attacking researchers who are doing lifesaving work,” Healey wrote. “I’m grateful to Attorney General Campbell for challenging her unlawful detention.”

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