US citizen’s alleged 43-hour detainment causes uproar, CBP officials bizarrely claim she was never actually in custody

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials are now disputing claims that U.S. citizen Sunny Naqvi was held in Department of Homeland Security custody for approximately 43 hours, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. Naqvi’s family asserts she was detained for nearly two full days, an allegation federal agents are flatly denying.

Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old born in Evanston and raised in the Chicago suburbs, was recently set to travel overseas for a work trip with five colleagues. The group included three U.S. citizens and three green card holders, all legally in the country. When that initial trip fell through at the last minute, the group continued their travels elsewhere.

The controversy began when Naqvi and her colleagues arrived back in Chicago on a Thursday. According to her attorney, DHS allegedly detained her due to a “curious travel history.” Her family claims she spent about 30 hours at Chicago O’Hare International Airport before being transferred to a facility in Broadview.

During this time, her family’s concern grew significantly

Her family reportedly lost the location being shared from Naqvi’s phone, which had previously shown her at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Despite this, her relatives say federal agents repeatedly told them that Naqvi was not in custody.

“The cops were lying to our faces,” said Sarah Afzal, Naqvi’s sister. “We were asking them, ‘Hey, her location is here. We were in contact with her,’ and they kept being like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you.'” Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison also weighed in, stating that officials asked for Naqvi’s phone number to search the facility for her phone. He claims that about 10 minutes later, the phone was opened, text messages were read, and then the phone was turned off, cutting off her location tracking.

The family states Naqvi was later moved to a facility in Dodge County, Wisconsin, where she was finally released early on Saturday morning. Her phone was dead at this point, forcing her to hitchhike with a passing driver to a hotel. It was there that her family was able to pick her up.

“It was just really scary to me, and I think it’s really scary to know that this can happen to someone born here,” Afzal shared. She added, “This whole morning was about just kind of getting it together. She doesn’t want this to be about her. This is about everyone that is illegally detained.”

However, CBP officials are telling a completely different story, which is a pattern at this point with their role in the ongoing immigration crackdown. A spokesperson for CBP stated on Monday that Naqvi was never actually detained. They claim she was simply flagged for additional inspection based on law enforcement checks upon her arrival at O’Hare. According to CBP, she was released within 90 minutes of her arrival at the airport.

Adding another layer to the conflicting reports, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on Monday. They acknowledged allegations that Naqvi was taken to the Dodge County Jail but explicitly stated that she was never booked at their facility.

Naqvi is now back home, though she was reportedly too shaken to speak publicly on Sunday. A pretty large crowd, including some elected officials, gathered on Sunday in front of the Broadview facility, calling the alleged detainment unlawful. The status of the five other individuals who were allegedly detained with her remains unclear.