Family members and Illinois officials say Sunny Naqvi was held for nearly two days, moved across state lines and released without a clear explanation.
BROADVIEW, IL — Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from the Chicago suburbs, was detained by federal officers after arriving at O’Hare International Airport on Thursday, held for about 43 hours in government custody and later released in Wisconsin, according to her family, attorney and local elected officials.
The case drew swift attention because Naqvi is a U.S. citizen and because relatives and supporters said they struggled to learn where she was being held as the hours passed. By Sunday, family members, advocates and public officials had gathered outside the federal processing center in Broadview to demand a full explanation of why Naqvi was stopped, what records support the detention and why she was transferred from Illinois to Wisconsin before being freed.
Naqvi, who also goes by Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, had been traveling with five co-workers on what relatives described as an overseas work trip. According to family members and public officials who spoke on her behalf, the group’s original business itinerary fell apart during travel, and they later returned to Chicago through Turkey. When they arrived at O’Hare on Thursday, federal officers pulled aside all six travelers. Supporters said the group included three U.S. citizens and three lawful permanent residents. Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, a family friend, said he spoke with Naqvi around 1:30 p.m. Friday while she was still in custody. After that, relatives said, her location became harder to track, even as they kept pressing agencies for information. Her attorney later said the only explanation offered was concern about a “curious travel history,” a phrase that family members said did not amount to a real reason for holding her.
Supporters said Naqvi spent about 30 hours at O’Hare before she was moved to the Broadview processing center west of Chicago. They said her phone at one point appeared to place her there, even while family members were being told she was not in custody. That account became one of the sharpest points in the dispute, because relatives say they were trying to locate a citizen who had not been charged with a crime and had not been given a meaningful explanation for being held. By the time elected officials and supporters gathered outside the Broadview site, Naqvi had already been moved again, this time to Dodge County, Wisconsin. She was released early Saturday, according to relatives. Family members said her phone had died and that she had to get help reaching a hotel before relatives could pick her up. Federal authorities had not publicly laid out a detailed chronology by Sunday night, and no court filing or criminal charge had been publicly tied to her detention.
The episode quickly became part of a larger argument in the Chicago area over transparency in immigration and border enforcement. Broadview has drawn repeated scrutiny in recent months from lawmakers, advocates and clergy members who say detainees and families often face long gaps in information about who is being held there and under what authority. In Naqvi’s case, the stakes were especially plain because the person at the center of the dispute was not a visa holder or a visitor but an American citizen from suburban Chicago. Her family said she was born in Evanston, raised in the area and educated in Illinois. That background turned the case into more than a private family emergency. It became a public test of what information federal agencies owe when they detain a citizen at an international airport, how long such a detention can last and what review exists when relatives say they cannot get a straight answer.
By Sunday, the next steps were shifting from an urgent search to a push for records and accountability. Family members and allied officials said they wanted a full explanation of who ordered the detention, what database entries or travel records were relied on and why Naqvi was moved from O’Hare to Broadview and then to Wisconsin. They also wanted to know whether any paperwork was served on her and whether the other travelers faced similar treatment. As of Sunday evening, Naqvi had been released and was back home, but the larger legal and procedural questions remained open. No public hearing had been announced in connection with her detention, and supporters said they were weighing additional legal action and further demands to federal agencies. The next likely milestones are written requests for records, possible statements from the Department of Homeland Security or its component agencies and any formal complaint or lawsuit that may follow.
Outside the Broadview facility, the scene mixed relief with anger. Family members said they were grateful Naqvi was home, but they also said the ordeal left them shaken by how little they knew while she was being moved through federal custody. Morrison said the experience raised basic questions about accountability when a citizen disappears into the system for nearly two days. Her supporters framed the case as a warning sign about opaque detention practices, while stopping short of claiming facts they said still have not been disclosed by the government. For now, the strongest confirmed points are narrow but serious: Naqvi came home through O’Hare, was detained for many hours, was transferred between facilities and was released without any public criminal case attached to her name. The unanswered part is the central one: why it happened at all.
Naqvi was back with her family by the weekend, but demands for an explanation were still growing Sunday night. The next test will be whether federal authorities provide a documented account of the stop, the transfer chain and the legal basis for detaining a U.S. citizen in the first place.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.