--:-- [Sound of a phone call]
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Hi! Yes, hello. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us again. My name is Jess. Appreciate you doing this.
--:-- [Sound of a phone call]
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: It sounds like it's pretty crazy over there. How are you?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Yeah, hello, hello, hello. I'm fine. I mean, as much as I can.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): Hi, I'm Jessica Mendoza. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. Today, we're talking about a scientist who's been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Ksenia Petrova is a scientist at Harvard Medical School, studying how cells in the human body rejuvenate themselves. But right now, Ksenia is trapped. Instead of calling from her lab in Massachusetts, she's calling from an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Hi, thank you for having me.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): So, Ksenia, can you tell us a little bit about what's been happening?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Yeah, sure. So, I was in Paris, and I was visiting a lab, and I had some frog embryos with me. I was going to bring them back to Boston, but when I landed at Boston Logan Airport, customs officers took me aside and asked me questions about the embryos.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what happened next?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: They took my visa away, and they told me I could ask for a new one at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. But then they asked me if they should let the Russian government know that I was here, and I panicked because I'm afraid to go back to Russia.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): Why are you afraid to go back to Russia?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Because I was involved in politics, and I got arrested by the Russian authorities. I realized that I wasn't safe in Russia, so I left in 2022. I was hired by Harvard a year later.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what happened after you were detained?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: I was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, and I've been here for two months. I'm waiting to plead my case for asylum before an immigration judge.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what are the hypotheticals there, the outcomes? I mean, you could win your asylum case, which would mean essentially you're free unless the government appeals. You could lose your asylum case. In which case, you know, it's hard to say what the range of possibilities is.
--:-- Michelle Hackman: That's right. An asylum claim can be as simple as, you can't send me home, I will be targeted. You have to prove it, of course, but that's how it starts.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what's the current situation with Ksenia's case?
--:-- Michelle Hackman: Ksenia's case is a good example of how the Trump administration's aggressive stance on immigration is affecting people with visas. She was detained after her visa was revoked, and now she's waiting to plead her case for asylum.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what's the impact on the scientific community?
--:-- Michelle Hackman: People are freaked out by it. People are afraid to leave the country. Scientists are afraid to come to the country. People are terrified.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And what's the government's position on Ksenia's case?
--:-- Michelle Hackman: An assistant secretary at DHS said that Ksenia broke the law and was lawfully detained. She added, quote, we should know who and what is in our country.
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: If I will be sent back to Russia, I'm of course worried that I will be arrested and imprisoned because of my political opinion. And I won't have any chance to get out of jail there until the regime changes or until Putin dies because nobody is released there. There is no judges there. There's no court. There's no law. Just President Putin and his madness.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And finally, what's next for Ksenia's case?
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: I'm waiting to plead my case for asylum before an immigration judge. I'm hoping to be released on parole, which could protect me from deportation until my case is decided.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): Thank you, Ksenia, for sharing your story with us today.
--:-- Ksenia Petrova: Thank you for having me.
--:-- Host (Jessica Mendoza): And thank you to our listeners for tuning in. If you have any questions about what the Trump administration is doing on immigration, the economy, or anything, email us and let us know. Please send a voice note to thejournal at wsj.com. That's all for today, Tuesday, April 22nd. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. If you like our show, follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday afternoon. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.
