- U.S.-born citizen Sunny Naqvi was detained for 43 hours by DHS at O’Hare Airport.
- The detention followed a disrupted work trip involving travel through Turkey and India.
- Family and officials reported conflicting information and transfers to facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin.
(CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) — The Department of Homeland Security detained Sundas “Sunny” Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S.-born citizen from the Chicago area, for about 43 hours after she returned from an overseas work trip through a Chicago airport, raising fresh questions about how border screening can engulf lawful travelers who then struggle to reach family or lawyers.
Naqvi, a U.S.-born U.S. citizen, was detained at O’Hare International Airport in March 2026, according to accounts from Times of India, ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times, along with comments from her attorney and local and federal officials.
The case has drawn scrutiny because Naqvi is a citizen, not a visa holder or green card applicant, and because her family and attorney described a shifting picture of where she was held and what process applied as she moved from airport custody to detention facilities.
Times of India, ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Naqvi was born in Evanston, raised in the Chicago suburbs, and works for SAP. She traveled to India for work as part of a six-person group.
That group included three U.S. citizens and three lawful permanent residents with Pakistani passports, the outlets reported. Their itinerary unraveled during a layover in Istanbul, where the green card holders were denied onward transit because of visa complications.
After the overseas trip fell apart, Naqvi and colleagues returned to Chicago on Thursday, and DHS detained her at O’Hare, the outlets reported. Family members said she was held at the airport for roughly 30 hours before transfers that took her out of Illinois.
Accounts published by Times of India, ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times varied on hour-by-hour detail, but agreed Naqvi spent roughly 43 hours in custody. Family members and public officials also raised questions about what they described as limited or conflicting information while she was held.
DHS and Customs and Border Protection did not issue a formal proactive press release specific to Naqvi’s detention, and ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported on March 8–9, 2026 that DHS and CBP spokespeople declined to comment on specific details, citing privacy and ongoing operational protocols.
Much of what is publicly known comes from her family, her attorney, and elected officials discussing what they said they were told during calls and inquiries, alongside published accounts in Times of India, ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Robert Held, Naqvi’s attorney, linked the detention to what he described as a changing explanation from officials. Held said on March 8, 2026: “CBP has stated multiple times that Sunny was detained for ‘two minutes.’ I called to ask if they wanted to amend their statement. I was referred to public affairs.”
The accounts have also placed Naqvi’s travel history at the center of the stated rationale for additional scrutiny. Her attorney reportedly believed the detention was tied to what officials described as a “curious” or inconsistent travel history.
The trip’s collapse and rerouting featured prominently in those descriptions. The only justification reportedly given to Naqvi was a “curious travel history,” tied to the disrupted plan to travel to India via Istanbul, and the changes that followed after the green card holders encountered visa issues.
One published account said Naqvi then traveled through Bulgaria and Austria before returning. Authorities have not publicly provided a full detailed justification, and the public record of the detention has largely been assembled from secondhand accounts and limited official comments.
Naqvi arrived at O’Hare on Thursday morning, March 5, 2026, according to the timeline described in the materials circulated by family and cited in media reports. She remained in custody at the airport for about 30 hours, then was moved to the Broadview ICE Processing Center in Illinois, and later to an ICE-linked detention facility in Dodge County, Wisconsin, before release early Saturday, according to family accounts carried by the outlets.
Reports said she was released around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Family members said the custody sequence and the length of time without reliable updates turned a routine return from an overseas work trip into a prolonged effort to locate her.
Family members described communication gaps that they said deepened their concern as hours passed. Times of India reported that relatives said officers denied she was in custody even as the family tracked her phone location.
ABC7 Chicago similarly reported that family members lost access to her phone location after officials allegedly handled the device. The Chicago Sun-Times described repeated confusion over whether she had been formally detained and where she had been transferred.
Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison described a confrontation with federal agents at the Broadview facility during the detention. Morrison reported that agents denied she was there on March 7, 2026, stating: “We were lied to. They said she was never detained at O’Hare after telling us she was.”
The family framed the episode as a broader warning about accountability when someone disappears into custody during airport enforcement actions. Naqvi’s sister told media outlets that the case shows how easily someone “born here” can still end up in a system that families struggle to track in real time.
Sarah Afzal, Naqvi’s sister, also described the personal toll of the detention. Afzal reported that Sunny was “shaken” and unable to eat or shower for the duration of her 43-hour ordeal.
Other claims about what happened after release have also circulated in accounts attributed to family. Upon her release in the middle of the night in rural Wisconsin, Naqvi’s phone was dead, and she was forced to hitchhike to a nearby hotel to contact her family, according to the material.
As of March 9, 2026, Naqvi has reportedly not received her passport back from federal authorities, despite being a confirmed U.S. citizen, according to the information circulated in the same account.
Supporters and critics have pointed to broader enforcement initiatives to explain why a citizen might face prolonged screening. The detention unfolded during a period of intensified immigration enforcement that the material described as “Operation PARRIS” and “Operation Midway Blitz.”
One policy cited in public discussion of the case was “Operation PARRIS” (Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening). It was described as formalized in a February 18, 2026, DHS memo authorizing ICE and CBP to re-screen and potentially detain individuals — even those with legal status — for “enhanced vetting.”
While the operation was described as primarily targeting refugees, advocates have cited its broader “re-vetting” mandate as a reason for a surge in citizen detentions, the material said. Officials have not publicly tied Naqvi’s detention to any named operation in a case-specific statement.
On the political side, congressional oversight letters from Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi in January 2026 noted that DHS has detained roughly 4,500 people in the Chicago area alone during recent “blitz” operations, with only 15% having prior criminal convictions, according to the material.
DHS has defended intensified screening protocols in general terms. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, speaking in broader contexts on May 12, 2025 and reiterated in 2026, said: “Our officers are following the law, not agendas. additional inspection — a routine, lawful process that occurs daily — can apply for any traveler.”
The Naqvi episode also landed amid heightened concern over secondary inspection, device searches, and prolonged questioning, particularly for travelers with ties to multiple countries or regions that attract extra security attention, according to the accounts.
In Naqvi’s case, the travel context included colleagues carrying Pakistani passports and an India-bound work itinerary routed through Turkey that later collapsed, factors that appear to have formed part of the enforcement picture described by family and counsel. DHS has not offered a public, detailed explanation addressing how those factors did or did not influence decisions in her case.
Naqvi’s own message from detention, as described in the account, captured what she understood about the environment in which she was being held. In a voicemail, she said: “I mean, I know we’re at war right now, there’s going to be increased security stuff.”
The incident has also sharpened attention on what secondary inspection can mean for both citizens and non-citizens entering the United States. Screening at ports of entry can involve extended questioning, scrutiny of travel patterns and itinerary changes, and delays that disrupt travel and communications, even when travelers believe their status is settled.
Advocates and attorneys have argued that those dynamics can be compounded when travelers cannot quickly confirm where they are being held or how to reach counsel. Naqvi’s family and attorney described difficulty obtaining consistent answers while she moved from the airport to other facilities.
At the center of the public debate is the tension between enforcement authority and transparency during custody at airports and in transfer settings. Family accounts and elected officials’ comments in Naqvi’s case focused on notification practices, the accuracy of information provided to relatives and counsel, and the ability to track a detainee through transfers.
The available public accounts share several broad points: Naqvi is a U.S.-born citizen from the Chicago area; she returned through O’Hare from an overseas work trip; DHS detained her for roughly 43 hours; she moved from O’Hare to Broadview and then to Dodge County, Wisconsin; and she was released around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
Other elements remain contested in public discussion, including the precise sequence of communications between family, counsel and officials, and what specific travel-history concerns triggered the hold beyond the general description of a “curious travel history.” Without a case-specific DHS or CBP public explanation, much of the dispute has played out through accounts attributed to family members, attorneys and local officials.
Even with those limitations, the case has remained relevant because it reflects how quickly a lawful traveler can lose contact with family and counsel during airport enforcement actions, and because the traveler at the center of the episode is a U.S.-born citizen.
For Naqvi’s relatives, the questions have been less about whether DHS can conduct secondary screening than about what happens when screening turns into prolonged custody, transfers, and a scramble for basic information. Morrison’s account of being told she was not at the facility, and Held’s account of being told she was detained for “two minutes,” have become focal points in that argument.
The public record so far also reflects the constraints officials often cite in such cases, including privacy rules and operational protocols. ABC7 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that DHS and CBP spokespeople declined to comment on specific details of Naqvi’s detention on March 8–9, 2026.
For immigration enforcement discussions, the Naqvi episode has offered a vivid example of how airport screening intersects with travel disruptions, group travel profiles, and intensified vetting initiatives, even when the person detained is a U.S.-born citizen returning home.
