Illinois woman Sunny Naqvi is being sued for $1 million over her “false story” about being detained by ICE.
A Wisconsin sheriff has now sued Sunny Naqvi, an Illinois woman who claims she was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at O’Hare International Airport in March and then taken to an ICE facility. The alleged detention made national headlines, with Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, a friend of hers, amplifying the incident and demanding her release. When she was released, video released by the Department of Homeland Security showed that Naqvi was allowed to leave the airport about 90 minutes after landing and that she was never detained by ICE. Now, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt has filed a defamation lawsuit against Naqvi and Morrison, outlining evidence he says proves her claims are false. Schmidt released videos, documents and text messages claiming there was simply no verified evidence to support Naqvi’s claims. “The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office never took Sundarth Naqvi into custody,” he said.
“Sunny Naqvi checked into a hotel”
Sunny Naqvi’s family raised the alarm when she couldn’t be traced, but now Schmidt claims there is evidence that Naqvi checked into a hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, about three hours after arriving at O’Hare Airport on March 5. He also showed surveillance video showing Naqvi being driven by her ex-boyfriend to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, on March 7 and then back to the Chicago area.The ex-boyfriend told him he gave Naqvi about $25,000 over several weeks, including the cost of her plane ticket to Turkey, the sheriff said.“I have no charges against her in Dodge County. The only way I can do that is to make sure the public knows she can’t do this,” Schmidt said, adding that Naqvi’s story has damaged the agency’s reputation. Naqvi’s family and lawyers at the time claimed she was detained along with others because of curious travel history. According to a report, the group of three U.S. citizens and three Pakistani green card holders, including Naqvi, originally planned to travel to India. But they were unable to travel further from Türkiye and had to return to the United States. They were allegedly stopped upon their return, and Naqvi’s lawyers claim they were detained by ICE. The family claims they were held at the airport for 30 hours before being transferred to a facility in Illinois and then to Dodge County, Wisconsin. That last part is the basis for the lawsuit, but neither Naqvi nor Morrison have commented on the lawsuit. Naqvi does not have a clean record as she was convicted of lying about being a victim of sexual assault. Cook County court records show Naqvi has also been evicted twice in recent years. “In 2024, a River North apartment complex said she owed more than $43,000 in rent and fees. Around the same time, JPMorgan Chase said she owed nearly $15,000 in unpaid credit card debt,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
