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Woman sued for $1 million for lying about being detained in jail by federal immigration agents

April 14, 2026 | | Print Article

A Wisconsin sheriff has sued an Illinois woman for $1 million for lying about being detained in his jail by federal immigration agents.

The woman, Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, made headlines last month when, upon her March 5 return from a supposed work trip to Turkey, she and five others were allegedly detained at Chicago’s airport for 30 hours.

“[T]he group was [then] taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview and later to the Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin, where they were released the morning of March 7, allegedly spending nearly 43 hours in custody,” Block Club Chicago reported, citing claims from Naqvi and her supporters.

Some outlets blindly ran with her story:

But shortly after her return, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt each cried foul.

DHS, for its part, published photos proving that Naqvi, a citizen, spent only 90 minutes max at the airport before voluntarily leaving.

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“Ms. Naqvi departed [the airport] within 90 minutes of her arrival to the United States,” the department said in an official statement.

“Ms. Naqvi was not taken into custody or transferred to ICE for detention. [Customs and Border Protection] did NOT transfer any individuals to Broadview or perform any phone detentions from her flight on Thursday, March 5th,” the statement continued.

Schmidt, meanwhile, filed a defamation suit against both her and her top supporter and family friend, Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, accusing them of flat-out lying.

As evidence, he cited “jail logs [that] showed no female inmates booked at the time of Naqvi’s alleged detention,” according to Block Club Chicago. He also pointed to there being no evidence showing that Naqvi had ever been held at the Broadview facility.

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“There is no record of booking, there is no record of detention, no record of release, no contact with the individual, no transfer from federal agency,” he said in a statement. “At no point was Sundas Naqvi in the custody of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.”

He even published text message screenshots and a hotel guest log that both proved that Naqvi had stayed in a Hampton Inn & Suites in Rosemont during the days she’d allegedly been in custody.

Naqvi reportedly even got other people involved in her plot.

“Schmidt alleged that Naqvi convinced an unnamed ex-boyfriend to pay for her flight to Turkey, drive her to Wisconsin, and pose as a co-worker to help fabricate her story,” according to Block Club Chicago.

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“The ex-boyfriend was described as a ‘romance scam victim’ by Dodge County authorities, having spent over $25,000 in a single month to help concoct the narrative,” the reporting continued.

Schmidt said in a statement that he isn’t seeking to charge Naqvi but rather to sue her as a deterrent for others.

“I don’t have any charges in Dodge County to bring against her. My only recourse is to make sure that the public knows that she can’t do this,” he said during a Friday press conference.

“I will not stand by while false narratives are used to portray law enforcement as something it is not. I take it personally when my staff are called liars. These are men and women who do this job the right way, every day, and those accusations are simply not supported by the facts,” he added.

According to reports, Naqvi  is a longtime liar and hustler who once even falsely accused a professor of sexual harassment:

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Vivek Saxena
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