One kind beta microscope wey dem get for Harvard Medical School fit help change how dem dey diagnose cancer and study aging, but di full power of di machine dey hang now. Di scientist wey sabi decode di images from di microscope dey US immigration detention.
Kseniia Petrova, one 30-year-old researcher wey come from Russia, don dey for ICE Richwood Correctional Center for Louisiana for two months. Dem arrest am for Boston Logan Airport for February, as NBC News report on Tuesday. She dey work for Harvard Kirschner Lab, where she dey create important computer scripts to check microscopic images.
Petrova fit face deportation go Russia, and she dey fear say dem fit persecute her because she no support di Ukraine war. Dem arrest her because dem talk say she no declare frog embryo samples wey she dey use for her research well. US officials talk say she lie give border officers about wetin dey her bag, but Petrova deny di claim. She talk say di process confuse her and she no know wetin dey happen to her.
"Dem ask me if I get any biological samples for my bag. I talk say yes," Petrova yarn. "Nobody know wetin dey happen to me. I no fit talk to my lawyer or anybody. Di next day, dem no tell me wetin go happen. I just dey wait for cell."
Petrova lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, talk say normally, Customs and Border Protection dey give two punishment for dis kind customs wahala: dem go collect di items and give fine, wey dey usually around $500. For first-time wahala, dem dey even reduce di fine to $50. But instead, dem cancel Petrova J-1 scholar visa. Her first immigration court hearing dey set for Tuesday.
Dr Leon Peshkin, her mentor and principal research scientist for Harvard Department of Systems Biology, call di matter "horrifying" and talk say di fear wey dey catch international researchers don already make many of dem dey comot from US institutions.
Recent data wey NBC News show talk say more than 1,550 international students and graduates don get their legal status changed, and over two dozen lawsuits don dey court to fight visa wahala.
