A major dispute erupted after the federal administration contradicted claims by Sunny Naqvi’s relatives that she was detained for approximately 43 hours after arriving at the Chicago airport, even though Naqvi is a US citizen. The Department of Homeland Security said the claims were blatantly false. Naqvi was referred to a secondary inspection which delayed her for 90 minutes. And she was not detained or transferred to ICE for detention. After the DHS claim, several social media users dug up Sunny Naqvi’s past cases and called her a lying fraud.
Past accusation of sexual harassment and assault against ex-boyfriend
Citing old reports, they claimed that Naqvi was the same woman who was charged in 2019 with intimidation and aggravated unlawful restraint. Her ex-boyfriend at the time complained that after their breakup, Naqvi contacted him to delete a Reddit social media post where the ex-boyfriend posted something about a sexual harassment investigation involving Naqvi and a professor. Naqvi turned up to meet him along with another person and deleted the post from his computer, brandishing a knife. Naqvi was later acquitted of intimidation because the court found too many inconsistencies in what the ex said. This leads to another case involving Naqvi, who accused former University of Illinois professor Joseph Petry of sexual harassment. Petry claimed the accuser blackmailed him and resigned.
Detained by ICE or not
Naqvi’s sister claimed she was detained at O’Hare International Airport while returning from a trip along with five other people accompanying her. She was then transferred to an immigration center in Broadview, Illinois and then to the Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin. This all happened between Thursday and Saturday, and she was released from the Dodge County Jail on Saturday morning, the family said. They said her phone’s location was listed at ICE facilities, although the federal administration told family members she was not in custody. Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison defended the family’s version of the story and said the administration was lying because due process was not followed in detaining a U.S. citizen. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said Naqvi’s family was lying, as there was no record of Naqvi being detained. Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Reed Showalter said the administration was lying since he was with the family when Naqvi disappeared. “I was on the ground during this whole thing. The scary thing is not just that this administration is disappearing people. But the entire time they were detained, the official story was that they were already released. While Sunny was in Broadview IL, and her phone showed her location there, ICE claimed they never saw a woman. When she was released onto the street in Juneau WI from another ICE detention center, they claimed she had never been detained. “People don’t just show up at an ICE facility in Juneau WI,” Showalter wrote.