Abderrahim Belqasim v. Drew Bostock, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedOctober 28, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-01282
StatusUnknown

This text of Abderrahim Belqasim v. Drew Bostock, et al. (Abderrahim Belqasim v. Drew Bostock, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abderrahim Belqasim v. Drew Bostock, et al., (W.D. Wash. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 ABDERRAHIM BELQASIM, Case No. 2:25-cv-01282-LK-TLF 7 Petitioner, v. REPORT AND 8 RECOMMENDATION DREW BOSTOCK, et al., 9 Noted for November 12, 2025 Respondent. 10

11 Petitioner Abderrahim Belqasim, a native, and citizen of Morocco, is currently 12 detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) at the Northwest ICE 13 Processing Center (“NWIPC”) in Tacoma, Washington. Dkt. 1 (Petition). He has been 14 detained since on or about September 15, 2024. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 1 (Decl. of Abderrahim 15 Belqasim); Dkt. 10 at 4-5 (Decl. of Robert Andron); Dkt. 12-1 at 2 (“Record of 16 Deportable/Inadmissible Alien”). 17 On July 8, 2025, he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 18 2241, through counsel, arguing his continued detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b) 19 violates his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States 20 Constitution. Id. 21 Petitioner seeks an order from the Court: (1) directing his release unless the 22 Government holds a custody hearing for petitioner before an immigration judge in 23 petitioner’s native language and dialect within 14 days; (2) directing that at the hearing 24 the Government must establish by clear and convincing evidence that petitioner 1 presents a risk of flight or danger and that no alternative to detention can mitigate any 2 risk that his release would present; and (3) directing that if the Government cannot meet 3 its burden, the immigration judge must order petitioner’s release on appropriate 4 conditions of supervision, taking into account his ability to pay a bond. Id. at 18.

5 The Government has filed a return memorandum and motion to dismiss arguing 6 petitioner’s detention is lawful under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b) and the Due Process Clause of 7 the Fifth Amendment. Dkt. 8. Petitioner, represented by counsel, has filed a response to 8 the motion and the Government has filed a reply. Dkts. 13, 16. 9 Having considered the parties' submissions, the balance of the record, and the 10 governing law, the Court recommends that the motion to dismiss (Dkt. 8) be DENIED as 11 improper and that the petition (Dkt. 1) be GRANTED as provided below. 12 BACKGROUND

13 Petitioner is a native and citizen of Morocco who entered the United States at an 14 unknown location on or about September 15, 2024, and was apprehended shortly after 15 entering the United States without inspection on September 15, 2024. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 1 16 (Belqasim Decl.); Dkt. 10 at ¶ 4-5 (Andron Decl.); Dkt. 12-1 at 2 (“Record of 17 Deportable/Inadmissible Alien”). Petitioner asserts he came to the United States 18 because he was afraid of returning to Morocco, where he was previously targeted and 19 harassed for his sexual orientation. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 1 (Belqasim Decl.). Petitioner states, and 20 the Government does not appear to significantly dispute, that he speaks a language 21 known as Tachelhit, that he does not speak Moroccan Arabic known as Darija, that he 22 speaks limited English that he has learned in detention but cannot read or write in 23 English and is not comfortable proceeding in court in English. Id. ¶ 2.

24 1 On September 16, 2024, petitioner was initially issued an expedited removal 2 order under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1). Dkt. 1 at ¶ 21; Dkt. 12-2 at 2 (“Notice and Order of 3 Expedited Removal”). Prior to being transferred to the NWIPC, the Government 4 represents that petitioner was detained at the Adams County Detention Center where

5 he was held from on or about September or October 2024 until February 2025 when he 6 was transferred to the NWIPC. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 3 (Belqasim Decl.)1; Dkt. 10 at ¶¶ 5-7. 7 Petitioner states, and apparently the Government does not dispute, that he was 8 called in for a credible fear interview on October 31, 2024; he could not complete the 9 interview because there was no Tachelhit interpreter, and he was unable to understand 10 the Moroccan Darija interpreter. Id. Petitioner states that, since his credible fear 11 interview, he consistently told the Government he speaks Tachelhit. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 3 12 (Belqasim Decl.). 13 Petitioner also states, and the Government does not dispute, that in the region of 14 Morocco where he is from, there are many dialects of Tamazight, one of which is

15 Tachelhit. Id. ¶ 5. He states that the different tribes and villages all speak different 16 dialects and although the villages are close by, they cannot understand each other. Id. 17 He states that even Tachelhit has different variations. Id. 18 19

20 1 The Court notes that there appears to be some discrepancy regarding where petitioner was detained prior to being transferred to NWIPC. The Adams County Detention Center appears to 21 be located in Mississippi but petitioner asserts he was initially detained in Mississippi for two weeks and then transferred to a detention center in Nevada where he remained from October 22 2024 to February 2025 when he was transferred to NWIPC. Dkt. 3 at ¶ 3 (Belqasim Decl.); see Adams County Correctional Center | ICE. The Court notes that the record reflects that petitioner 23 attended several court dates in Las Vegas immigration court which would tend to support petitioner’s assertion. But because this discrepancy is not relevant to the resolution of the 24 petition, the Court need not resolve it here but simply notes it for the record. 1 Petitioner was served with a Notice to Appear (“NTA”) on or about November 1, 2 2024, telling him that he was removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act 3 (“INA”) §§ 212(a)(6)(A)(i) and 212(a)(7)(A)(i) (codified at 8 U.S.C. §§ 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) 4 and 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)) as an alien who has not been admitted or paroled, and as an alien

5 without valid documents under the INA. Dkt. 10 at ¶ 5 (Andron Decl.); Dkt. 12-3 at 2 6 (“Notice to Appear”). 7 The NTA reflects that petitioner’s expedited removal order was vacated under 8 8 C.F.R. § 208.302 and that he was placed into full removal proceedings. Dkt. 12-3 at 2 9 (“Notice to Appear”). The NTA also states that “the language [petitioner] understands is 10 Tachelhit.” Id. 11 Petitioner appeared in the Las Vegas Immigration Court on November 14, 2024, 12 for an initial master calendar hearing (“MCH”). Dkt. 11 at ¶ 4 (Decl. of Omar Carbahal). 13 The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) reset the hearing on the grounds that a telephonic 14 interpreter was not available. Id.

15 On November 21, 2024, the Las Vegas Immigration Court held a reset MCH. Id. 16 ¶ 5. The IJ stated on the record that the immigration court has been unable to find an 17

18 2 Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations § 208.30(b) provides: If an alien subject to section 235(a)(2) or 235(b)(1) of the Act indicates an 19 intention to apply for asylum, or expresses a fear of persecution or torture, or a fear of return to his or her country, the inspecting officer shall not proceed further 20 with removal of the alien until the alien has been referred for an interview by a USCIS asylum officer in accordance with this section. A USCIS asylum officer 21 shall then screen the alien for a credible fear of persecution or torture. An asylum officer, as defined in section 235(b)(1)(E) of the Act, has the authorities described in § 208.9(c).

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Abderrahim Belqasim v. Drew Bostock, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abderrahim-belqasim-v-drew-bostock-et-al-wawd-2025.