Arrests of scientists over smuggled samples add to US border anxiety

Summary

After being charged last month with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the United States, Kseniia Petrova, a Russian bioinformatician, was indicted on 25 June on additional charges by a grand jury in Boston, Massachusetts — including making a false statement to customs agents. Petrova is one of at least four foreign scientists facing criminal charges for attempting to bring biological material into the country, adding to the anxiety rippling through the research community as the administration of US President Donald Trump slashes science spending and cracks down on immigration.International PhD students make emergency plans in fear of US immigration raidsNature talked to research and legal specialists to understand whether these cases cropping up is unusual and how lab materials should be transported. Detentions for carrying undocumented biological material into the United States happen every year, says Jonathan Grode, an attorney at the immigration law firm Green and Spiegel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is not involved in any of the cases.Typically, if a person enters the country with a non-hazardous item that is either prohibited or lacks the proper documentation, the authorities confiscate the item, inform the individual of the proper procedure to retrieve it and issue a fine for failing to follow protocol, Grode says. If something is considered hazardous, that changes the calculus, as does being a repeat offender. If you’re both of those things “you are going to get arrested, you are going to be fined and you are going to be denied entry to the country”, he adds.“The rules have not changed” under the Trump administration, Grode says. What has is the “sensationalism” around any foreigner who has problems at the border, whether from the media or from the Trump team highlighting the case in its deportation efforts, he adds.Customs violationsPetrova, who had been working at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, was arrested in February for allegedl...