Kseniia Petrova Detained for Frog Embryos at Boston Airport, Faces 20 Years

Kseniia Petrova, Harvard scientist, was jailed in Louisiana after frog embryos were found in her luggage at Boston airport in February 2025. The $250,000 smuggling charge pivots her from research associate to a surreal immigration case with ICE and a looming deportation.
Petrova’s lawyer called the frog embryo smuggling case “meritless,” noting the charge arrived three months post-arrest. With “immigration detention” now a top search phrase, the real story is how a scientist’s lab research became borderland spectacle—tadpoles meet bureaucracy at baggage claim.