DHS Calls Sunny Naqvi's 43-Hour Detention Story 'Blatantly False,' Says She Faced 90-Minute Secondary Inspection

The story centers on Sunny Naqvi’s claim that she was detained for about 43 hours after arriving at Chicago O’Hare, a claim the federal government has publicly disputed and described as false.

The Times of India reports that “A major row broke out after the federal administration contradicted the claims of the family members of Sunny Naqvi that she was detained for around 43 hours after arriving at a Chicago airport, though Naqvi is a US citizen,” and that “The Department of Homeland Security said the claims were blatantly false.”

Live and Let's Fly

Live and Let’s Fly framed the incident as a rapidly escalating political controversy, saying “Sunny Naqvi’s alleged 43-hour detention at Chicago O’Hare has quickly become a political flashpoint.”

Naqvi’s family and supporters say she was not only delayed but moved through multiple facilities and only released days later.

The Times of India records the family’s account that “Naqvi's sister claimed she was detained at O'Hare International Airport as she was returning from a trip along with five other people who were with her. Then she was transferred to an immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois and then to the Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin.”

The Times of India

The family also said “her phone location was showing at the ICE facility,” and their narrative drew public defenders including Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, who “defended the family's side of the story and said the administration was lying because no due process was followed in detaining a US citizen.”

DHS says Naqvi was not taken into custody and that the delay she experienced was a routine secondary inspection lasting about 90 minutes.

The Times of India records the administration’s position that “Naqvi was referred for a secondary inspection that delayed her for 90 minutes,” and that “she was not taken into custody or transferred to ICE for detention.”

Live and Let’s Fly highlights the central factual dispute, noting DHS’s statements have prompted the question whether there was an extended inspection or a longer detention, asking “did the government detain a U.S. citizen for more than a day, did she make the whole thing up, or was their an extended secondary inspection that went longer than 90 minutes?”

The controversy has also prompted social-media sleuthing and resurfaced prior allegations involving Naqvi, which some outlets and users used to question her credibility.

The Times of India recounts that “After the claim of the DHS, several social media users dug up Sunny Naqvi's past cases and called her a lying fraud,” and summaries of earlier reports say she “was charged in 2019 of intimidation and aggravated unlawful restraint” but was “later acquitted of intimidation as the court found too many inconsistencies in what the ex said.”

The Times of India

Live and Let's Fly warned that without the relevant records the case remains “murky and deeply contested.”

Local officials and political figures are publicly split, and the absence of clear records has left the matter unresolved.

The Times of India reports that “Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said Naqvi's family was lying, as there was no record of Naqvi being taken into custody,” while other local voices pushed back—“Dem candidate from Illinois Congress Reed Showalter said the administration was lying as he was with the family when Naqvi was missing.”

Live and Let's Fly

Live and Let's Fly summarizes the situation as one in which “the public is left with two completely different versions of events…both may be wrong, but both cannot be right,” concluding that the release of official records will be decisive.