Officer improperly canceled visa of Harvard scholar charged with frog embryo smuggling, judge rules

A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that a customs officer improperly canceled the visa of a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos in the U.S.

The opinion said Customs and Border Protection officers have limited authority to cancel visas and can’t do so for suspected smuggling of biological samples. The cancellation of Kseniia Petrova ‘s visa was arbitrary and capricious, U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss said in her written ruling.

“The undisputed facts reveal that Ms. Petrova’s visa was impermissibly canceled because of the frog embryo samples and for no other reason,” Reiss wrote.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection, didn’t immediately return an email message seeking comment.

In February last year, Petrova was returning from a vacation in France, where she had stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples for research. She was questioned about the samples while passing through a customs checkpoint at Boston Logan International Airport.

After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being canceled.

Petrova was briefly detained ...