A Harvard scientist was charged on Wednesday with months in U.S. immigration detention, accused of sending frog embryos into the United States and facing deportation.

Russian scientist and research assistant Kseniia Petrova, who worked at Harvard University, was initially detained by immigration officials in February after entering the United States at Boston Logan International Airport.

In a May 14 press release, the Massachusetts office of the U.S. District Attorney said the smuggling charges could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years and fined up to $250,000. Petrova's text message showed she knew about the requirement to announce embryos before entering the United States, the press release said. Petrova spent the past three months in a detention center in Louisiana.

Petrova's attorney Gregory Romanovsky called the case "worthy" and questioned the timing of her transfer to criminal detention, saying it happened after a judge set a May 28 hearing in the lawsuit to consider releasing her.

"The charge was filed three months after alleged violation of customs and was clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify her efforts to expel her," he said in a statement.

Petrova details her research and detention experience in a New York Times column this week. Petrova said she left Russia after being arrested for protesting the Ukrainian war and found a "science paradise" at Harvard Medical School in 2023. Petrova also shared Facebook posts, and they also shared posts supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s impeachment, who feared deportation from Russia due to political stance.

Petrova's research focuses on aging and the chemical composition of cells, and she says "can pave the way for healthier lives to transcend Alzheimer's disease and cancer."

Petrova wrote that without her help, her colleagues' research at Harvard University "stopped."

Petrova's director of Leon Peshkin at Harvard University praised her research, saying she was publicly arrested and she was "spectacular: the best I've seen in 20 years at Harvard."

Petrova is one of many non-citizen scholars who were deported or threatened by the Trump administration. Her case stands out because unlike many others, she has not been accused of publicly protesting Israeli killing civilians in Gaza.

Petrova's specialist editor also details the detainees she met in Louisiana - a fiance of an American citizen on October court date, a woman turned down political asylum and expelled her daughter, whose daughter has legal status. She ended up talking about her lab work.

"I hope the judge (on Wednesday) can release me, so I can go back to the lab. There is a dataset I am completing the analysis. I want to go home and finish it," Petrova said.

Reuters contributed the report