Dodge County Sheriff Denies Record of Detaining U.S. Citizen Following Reported ICE Transfer

Family of a U.S. citizen claims she was held at Dodge County's ICE facility. Sheriff Dale Schmidt denies she was ever there despite location data.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 10, 2026, 6:37 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from WBAY-TV and the Dodge County Sheriff's Office.

Disputed Detention and Transfer

The controversy began when Sundras Naqvi returned to the United States from Turkey. According to her family and attorney, Robert Held, the Illinois resident was detained at O’Hare International Airport by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel. She was reportedly moved to a processing center in Broadview, Illinois, before being transported to the Dodge County Jail. Her legal team asserts that as a U.S. citizen, her detention was a significant violation of civil liberties and a failure of federal verification protocols.

Conflicting Digital and Physical Records

Attorney Robert Held provided screenshots showing Naqvi’s mobile phone location pinging specifically at the Dodge County facility during the time of her alleged detention. However, Sheriff Dale Schmidt has publicly disputed these claims, stating that a thorough audit of the jail's intake logs shows no record of Naqvi ever entering the building. Schmidt suggested that the GPS data could be misleading, noting that a nearby 24-hour gas station might account for the proximity in the digital ping. The Sheriff’s Office has also denied requests to release surveillance video from the facility’s exterior, stating that such footage is only released under subpoena.

Post-Release Account

Naqvi’s legal team describes a harrowing release on early Saturday morning. They claim she was let out of the facility with a dead phone, forced to walk to a nearby gas station to seek help from a stranger. She was eventually taken to a hotel where her family was able to locate her. "The government has lost credibility," Held stated, emphasizing the trauma experienced by a citizen being processed through a system designed for foreign nationals.