An Illinois girl who claimed she was detained by ICE for practically two days was really enjoyable at a lodge getting spa remedies, in response to a $1 million defamation swimsuit filed by a county sheriff.
US citizen Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, 28, gained nationwide consideration final month when she and a band of supporters – together with Cook dinner County, Sick., Commissioner Kevin Morrison – publicly insisted she was unlawfully detained by ICE officers for roughly 43 hours.
Naqvi claimed that after touchdown again within the US from a piece journey to Turkey on the morning of March 5, she was detained for practically 30 hours at Chicago O’Hare Worldwide Airport, then transferred to a different ICE facility in Broadview, Sick., earlier than winding up at Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin.
Morrison, who known as the Chicago-area native his “greatest good friend’s sister,” shared questionable screenshots of Naqvi’s location on the Juneau, Wisc., jail on Fb – and decried the alleged incident throughout a tense media convention alongside Naqvi’s sister March 8.
“This can be a 28-year-old woman simply left on the road by ICE in one other state, with out her property,” the commissioner mentioned.
He claimed Naqvi was launched from custody within the early hours of March 7, then hitchhiked 9 miles to a lodge, the place she was met by household.
The Division of Homeland Safety known as the claims “blatantly false” – and even posted surveillance footage from the airport displaying Naqvi getting into a secondary inspection zone that morning and leaving round an hour later.
“Ms. Naqvi departed CBP inside 90 minutes of her arrival to the US…[she] was not taken into custody or transferred to ICE for detention,” DHS wrote in a March 10 X assertion.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Workplace additionally mentioned it had no file of Naqvi ever “being booked, detained, or launched” on the native jail.
However Morrison, who’s working for a seat in Congress, doubled down – even accusing the officers of “mendacity” and “making an attempt to create a cover-up,” in response to the Wisconsin outlet WISN 12 Information.
Now Naqvi and Morrison are the themes of a federal defamation lawsuit filed by Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt on Friday – as his workplace launched new particulars of Naqvi’s precise actions in the course of the alleged hoax interval.
“She checked into the Hampton Inn and Suites in Rosemont, Sick., for all the period of this alleged occasion,” Schmidt mentioned throughout a press convention, the place he offered a lodge invoice and textual content receipts for instance Naqvi’s time there.
The folio reveals Naqvi checked in on the Hampton Inn – only a 10-minute drive from the airport – at 1:17 p.m. March 5, whereas textual content messages with an unidentified witness over the next days present she loved free meals, spa companies and journeys to the fitness center.
“Might I exploit ur card to order some meals” and “going to take a look at the fitness center in like 5,” learn texts from Naqvi to the witness, in response to authorities.
“Might i exploit your card to pay my spa woman?” one other says in screenshots launched by the sheriff’s workplace.
The witness advised cops he additionally drove Naqvi to a close-by gasoline station within the early hours of March 7.
Surveillance footage taken from that outing revealed Naqvi openly sporting the identical garments that she’s later seen sporting in a “reunited” image uploaded to Fb simply hours later, in response to the sheriff’s workplace.
The accused lair checked out of the lodge on the afternoon of March 8, the folio reveals.
Although Wisconsin authorities weren’t capable of deliver felony costs on this case, Schmidt is searching for justice by the lawsuit, officers mentioned.
Schmidt is requesting a jury trial and searching for damages at least $1 million per defendant – together with 10 “John Does” – who he mentioned triggered “reputational hurt…notably as he prepares for a re-election marketing campaign in 2026.”
The sheriff’s lawyer Sam Corridor, advised The Submit the lawsuit is “in the end about accountability.
“This lawsuit was filed as a result of a totally fabricated story was pushed into the nationwide highlight by Naqvi and Cook dinner County Commissioner Morrison,” Corridor mentioned. “Sadly, their claims have been handled as truth with out probably the most primary verification.
“Sheriff Schmidt is standing as much as demand accountability towards those that perpetuate lies and faux information.”
Naqvi couldn’t be reached for remark. and Morrison didn’t reply to inquiries. It wasn’t instantly clear if both has retained a lawyer.
