Woman Sued For Fabricating ICE Detention Story

A Wisconsin sheriff has filed a lawsuit over what he says was a completely fabricated story about immigration detention, a case that has drawn comparisons online to the Jussie Smollett hoax.

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt announced the legal action after investigating claims by Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, a U.S. citizen from Skokie, Illinois, who said she had been detained by federal immigration authorities for roughly 40 hours. Her account, which began circulating publicly last month, alleged she was stopped at O’Hare International Airport, transferred to a facility in Illinois, and later moved across state lines to Wisconsin, where she was held in the Dodge County Jail before being released without documentation.

According to Schmidt, none of that happened.

After reviewing records from federal, state, and local agencies, investigators concluded there was no evidence Naqvi had ever been detained in Dodge County or transferred there by immigration officials. “There is no record of booking, detention, or release involving Ms. Naqvi in Dodge County,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that there was no coordination with any outside agencies that would support her claims.

Instead, authorities say the evidence points to a very different timeline. Records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show Naqvi was briefly in secondary inspection at O’Hare on March 5 and released less than an hour later. Shortly after that, hotel records place her at a Hampton Inn in Rosemont, Illinois, where she checked in early that afternoon and stayed for several days.

Investigators say those records are backed up by surveillance footage and transaction logs, as well as WhatsApp messages sent during the same period. In those messages, Naqvi appears to be going about her normal routine—discussing meals, work, and even arranging to order food—while she later claimed she was in custody.

Her eventual trip to Wisconsin on March 7 also appears to have been voluntary. Authorities cite license plate reader data, surveillance video, and witness accounts showing her traveling with another person, not in law enforcement custody. At one point that morning, she was captured on camera at a gas station in Slinger, Wisconsin—timing that investigators say doesn’t line up with her claim that she had just been released from the Dodge County Jail.