‘Didn’t Make Sense At All’: Family, attorney say feds detained U.S.-born Skokie resident for two days

Outside a federal detention center in Broadview on Sunday, Sarah Afzal told friends and supporters the story of immigration authorities’ 48-hour detainment and treatment of her sister, Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi. 

During the ordeal, Afzal reminded her mother that Naqvi, a Skokie resident and Pakistani American, was born in the United States and surely would be released by the federal Customs and Border Protection agents reportedly holding her after she arrived on Thursday at O’Hare International Airport.

But when tracking data from Friday showed that Naqvi’s cellphone was inside the Broadview federal detention center, Afzal phoned family friend Kevin Morrison, a Cook County commissioner who told her to get in her car and head to Broadview right away.  

“That’s when everything just didn’t make any sense at all, so that was really scary and terrifying,” Afzal said. “I grabbed her birth certificate because I randomly had that with me because I was holding it, I’m her big sister, and I was like, ‘I can prove her citizenship.’”

Contrary to Naqvi’s reported cellphone location on Friday, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department said in an emailed statement to The Record that deputies “searched for that individual [on Sunday] at the Broadview ICE facility but she was not there.”

Naqvi and a group of five others she was traveling with overseas — all of whom reportedly were also detained at O’Hare —were reunited with their families Saturday after they were released from a federal detention facility 145 miles to the north, in Dodge County, Wisconsin, Afzal and Morrison said. 

Naqvi, Afzal, Morrison, local candidates running for Congress and a crowd of approximately 60 others gathered outside the detention center in Broadview on Sunday to share information about the incident and demand answers about Naqvi’s and others’ detainment.

Naqvi did not personally share details about her experience with the crowd on Sunday. Afzal said her sister “didn’t want the spotlight on her” and is “still trying to process everything.”

“For one, I’m so relieved that I got to see Sunny yesterday and that she’s safe as much as she can be at this moment, that all individuals are ultimately released,” Morrison said on Sunday. 

“But how many individuals don’t have contact with a close family, a person like myself who also responded and took action and reached out to congressional leaders, who reached out to CBP, who reached out to immigration attorneys to try and get more clarity?”

‘Travel history‘

Afzal said her sister moved in with her mother in Skokie in 2025. Morrison added that Naqvi was born in Evanston and raised in Hoffman Estates. 

Afzal said Naqvi recently left the U.S. to go on a work trip to India with five colleagues, but the group was prevented from reaching India during a layover stop in Turkey because officials said some in the group had “visa issues.”

Since the six colleagues couldn’t continue to India together, the work trip was canceled and Naqvi traveled to Bulgaria and Austria before flying back to the U.S., Afzal said.

Naqvi landed at O’Hare around 10 a.m. on Thursday, Afzal said. Later that day, Afzal heard from her mother who was concerned that Naqvi’s phone showed she was still at the airport. 

Robert Held, an attorney representing Naqvi and her family, said on Sunday that CBP agents at O’Hare had questions about Naqvi’s “travel history.”

After data showed Naqvi had been at the airport for about 30 hours, her family “lost contact” with Naqvi around 3:52 p.m. on Friday, Afzal said, who added that less than an hour later, her phone showed she was in the federal detention center in Broadview.

Afzal contacted Morrison on Friday and Morrison contacted several local and federal officials — including Reed Showalter, a former Department of Justice attorney and candidate for the U.S. House Illinois’ 7th District — to raise awareness of Naqvi’s unconfirmed whereabouts.

Showalter said he arrived outside the Broadview facility around 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Morrison, Afzal and others were already there. At that time, Naqvi’s phone location was still showing that she was inside the ICE facility in Broadview, Showalter said. 

Where is she?

Showalter said he called the mayor of Broadview, while Morrison contacted the officers of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s (D-9th) team and the state’s attorney general, the latter of which eventually obtained permission for the Cook County Sheriff’s office to search the ICE facility. 

Showalter and Morrison both said they saw sheriff’s deputies enter the ICE facility in Broadview on Friday and, afterward, the deputies told them that there was no individual named Naqvi or property belonging to Naqvi inside.

Tracking data, Afzal said, showed Naqvi’s phone was in the ICE facility in Broadview for three to four hours before its signal disappeared, Afzal said. 

At some point on Friday, Morrison reportedly communicated with a CBP spokesperson at O’Hare who denied the organization had ever detained Naqvi, Morrison said.

Held also said he was in contact with the chief of CBP at O’Hare, as well as ICE personnel at Broadview and officials at the federal detention facility in Juneau, Wisconsin, where Naqvi reportedly was transferred.

“CBP has stated multiple times that Sunny was detained for ‘two minutes.’ I called (Sunday) to ask if they wanted to amend their statement. I was referred to public affairs,” Held said outside the ICE facility in Broadview.

“The facility behind me stated on multiple times — I spoke to ICE, not just the guards — that … Sunny has never been inside this facility. I asked them repeatedly if they wanted to clarify that, including in the wee hours of early Saturday morning, and they said they have no change in their statement.”

Alone in Wisconsin

Sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning, Naqvi’s phone showed that she was now inside a detention facility in Juneau, Afzal said. 

Afzal and Morrison said Naqvi was released from that detention center — hours from home and with no transportation — at around 5 a.m.

Naqvi reportedly had to walk to a gas station nearby, where she hitched a ride with a stranger to a hotel about nine miles away and was then picked up by her family. 

“It is my understanding that she was provided zero paperwork, not asked to sign anything, was allowed outside the ICE facility where she walked and ultimately found the woman who drove her to the Hilton at almost 5 in the morning,” Morrison said of Naqvi’s release.

Held said that federal agents remain in possession of Naqvi’s passport. Morrison said one of the other individuals who was detained and released obtained some of Naqvi’s possessions from O’Hare. 

“She doesn’t feel safe to travel, she doesn’t feel safe to do anything, she didn’t even feel safe leaving the house today,” Afzal said of her sister.

Urging action

Bushra Amiwala, a candidate for the U.S. House Illinois’ 9th District, said on Sunday that Naqvi’s detention brought to mind how President Donald Trump’s travel bans have targeted individuals with “ethnic sounding names” or those traveling from predominantly Muslim countries. 

“This was a person from a Muslim family with a Muslim name who basically was detained at an airport, and that impact is something that absolutely has to be called out for what it is,” Amiwala said. 

Amiwala urged individuals with upcoming travel to share copies of their passports, birth certificates and itineraries with loved ones, and to travel with an Apple Airtag, or other location-tracking device, on their person. 

While the event outside the ICE facility in Broadview on Sunday drew press and local officials, a number of other Cook County residents also were present in support.

Charles and Linda Roig, two locals, said they decided to come after hearing of Naqvi’s story on social media. 

“Why we’re here? To support justice, to support the event, to support the detainees and the press is here, just to let the world know that there are people here that care. Normally we’d be at IKEA and now we’re at active events because of the administration,” Charles Roig said. 

Moving forward, Morrison called on the crowd to demand federal elected officials obtain information on why Naqvi and these five others were detained, why Naqvi’s family and others were “continuously lied to,” and how to make sure this never happens again.

“In terms of next steps it is imperative of all of us to continue uplifting the story of what occurred right here,” Morrison said. 

“Three U.S. citizens, on U.S. soil, whose due process and habeas corpus rights were nonexistent, who were not given calls for their detention and who were removed to two different immigration facilities when they are not immigrants. She was born in the United States of America.”

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