Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi and five colleagues were detained by Customs and Border Protection agents at O’Hare International Airport after returning from Turkey on March 6, according to her family, attorney, and local officials. The group was held for about 30 hours in the airport’s third terminal before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, then later moved to the Dodge Detention Facility in Wisconsin. They were released early Saturday morning.
The incident has raised concerns among families and local leaders about transparency and communication from federal authorities. Naqvi’s family said they struggled to get information about her whereabouts during her detention. Her sister, Sarah Afzal, said supporters relied on Naqvi’s iPhone location to track her movements between facilities. “We were being lied to our faces,” Afzal said. “We saw her location smack dab in the middle of the [Broadview] facility. We saw her location in Wisconsin in the middle of that facility … We were in contact with her, and they kept being like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’”
Naqvi is a 28-year-old resident of Skokie who was born and raised in Evanston. She was traveling with two other U.S. citizens and three green card holders employed by SAP SE when their work trip was disrupted due to visa issues during a layover in Istanbul, according to Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison. Morrison said border patrol agents cited concerns over the group’s travel history as the reason for their detention.
Attorney Robert Held called for greater transparency from federal agencies following what he described as wrongful detainment: “This is what’s happening around the country,” he said. “The neighborhoods and communities that are being traumatized and terrorized are taking the brunt of this administration’s racist policies. This reign of terror will end one day those responsible will be held to account. There must be transparency and accountability.”
Morrison said he was alerted quickly by Afzal about Naqvi’s situation and coordinated with elected officials as well as rapid response groups on Friday afternoon; roughly 100 protesters gathered outside Broadview demanding release for those detained. Morrison also contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Illinois, which helped arrange a walk-through of the Broadview facility by Cook County Sheriff’s officers Friday evening—by then, Naqvi had already been moved.
Naqvi was released around 5 a.m., nine miles away from the Dodge Detention Facility; she reportedly hitchhiked to a nearby hotel after nearly three days without sleep or adequate food or water, according to her sister. All five colleagues have also been released but have not been publicly identified.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
