'False Story': US Citizen Sued For $1 Million Over Claims Of Being Illegally Detained By ICE

Last Updated:April 18, 2026, 18:21 IST

US citizen Sundas Naqvi is sued for defamation after alleging a 43-hour ICE detention at Chicago airport, DHS and a Wisconsin sheriff say surveillance disproves her claims.

A US citizen of Pakistani decent has been sued after she claimed that she was taken into custody by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while returning to the country from an overseas work trip.

CNN quoted Sundas Naqvi saying that she was returning to the US from an overseas work trip when she and five coworkers were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

However, the Department of Homeland Security rejected the claims that Naqvi was taken into custody at the airport. Though it confirmed that Naqvi was pulled aside for a secondary screening on March 5 after returning from a trip to Turkey “based on law enforcement checks".

“It sounds like they are trying to create a cover-up. They are seeking not to have any accountability whatsoever. And I think this is terrifying and concerning to us all," Morrison said in a news conference on March 8.

In a press conference on April 10, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said that Naqvi’s allegations were false.

“Sundas Naqvi was not detained by ICE at any time. She was not transported to Broadview detention facility. She was not transported across state lines to Dodge County by law enforcement… She was not in the custody of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office," he said. “This is a serious accusation, and when it is not true, it does real damage."

28-year-old Naqvi, who also goes by Sunny and Summer, according to public records, is not being charged with any crime, but the sheriff says she defamed him by claiming his office kept her behind bars, and now he’s suing her and the politician who illuminated her story in a million-dollar defamation case, CNN reported.

In a post on X, the DHS stated: “Surveillance footage from O’Hare CLEARLY shows her entering secondary inspection at 10:46 a.m., and leaving secondary to the public area at 11:42 a.m."

“Her claims of spending 43 hours in DHS custody are FALSE," it added.

In response to the DHS photo, Morisson said: “Instead of releasing a clearly doctored photo, I call on DHS to release all of the relevant video at O’Hare Airport at the days and times in question."

News world 'False Story': US Citizen Sued For $1 Million Over Claims Of Being Illegally Detained By ICE

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