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ICE detains Harvard researcher from Russia who protested Ukraine war
- mitchbob 2y agohttps://archive.ph/2025.03.29-160435/https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/03/28/harvard-researcher-detained-ice-russia-deportation/ https://archive.ph/2025.03.29-160435/https://www.washingtonp...
- matthewdgreen 2y agoThis is a pretty important story and deserves a lot more upvotes than it’s getting. Unrelated (I hope): FBI has also searched the home of an Indiana University computer security researcher, Xiaofeng Wang. His colleagues don’t know where he is. The University has scrubbed all of his web presence. https://bsky.app/profile/matthewdgreen.bsky.social/post/3lljj6nay722a https://bsky.app/profile/matthewdgreen.bsky.social/post/3llj...
- netsharc 2y agoWell, they forgot to scrub this page: https://alliance.iu.edu/members/member/8580.html https://alliance.iu.edu/members/member/8580.html Someone else has archived it, just in case: https://archive.is/UyV3P https://archive.is/UyV3P
- huitzitziltzin 2y agoThough I deplore detention and deportation for immigration violations, it’s worth mentioning in this case that this poor woman was asked to bring some biological samples back from France by her adviser and didn’t declare them. That’s not in the headline. There is no suggestion in the article that she is being detained for her opposition to the Ukraine war. She probably doesn’t have a great case. The culpable party here is 1000% her adviser who asked her to bring the samples back given “the complications [her adviser] Peshkin has experienced when French colleagues try to mail him research samples.” (Ok so you aren’t supposed to bring such material here…) It’s unconscionable and incredibly stupid to put a foreign student at risk by asking for such a “favor”, which she surely didn’t feel in a position to refuse. He shouldn’t even have asked an American (who can’t be deported) to do such a thing!
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- hingusdingus 2y agoThere's a right way to ship it and in personal baggage isn't it.
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- aaomidi 2y agoWhat’s kinda fucked up here is that like, if we all know this then what the point is deportation proceedings?
- tedunangst 2y agoA/B testing revealed this headline gets more clicks than "who tried to import undeclared biological samples".
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- hmm37 2y agoHowever the fact that she did protest the war means that she has a potential political asylum case.
- isthatafact 2y agoWe should not pretend there might be anything normal about her treatment, which now includes 6 weeks of imprisonment so far: From the article: "The usual consequence of such a customs violation is forfeiture of the identified item, a fine of up to $500 or both" "the officers had 'no legal basis' for revoking her J1 visa over this violation."
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- ThePowerOfFuet 2y agoICE ≠ CBP. Importation of forbidden materials is handled by CBP, not ICE.
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoI mean, ICE is literally immigration and customs.
- cge 2y agoSomewhat bizarrely, it appears that they at least partially correct. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [1] and US Customs and Border Protection [2] are somehow two completely separate agencies, both under the Department of Homeland Security. My understanding is that CBP handles customs at airports, so it may be they initially detained her, but then apparently may have transferred her to ICE? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_E... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Customs_and_Border_Protection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Customs_and_Border_Protec...
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoIf only someone were tasked with streamlining the government!