Asfestani v. Current or Acting Director
Bahman Asfestani v. Current or Acting Director, San Francisco Field Office, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, et al.
- James Donato
- 3:25-cv-09683
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Bahman Asfestani v. Current or Acting Director, Judge Donato transferred Asfestani’s detention challenge to the Eastern District of California.
Bahman Asfestani, an immigration detainee who filed without a lawyer, and the respondents in his detention challenge are affected by the transfer from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California.
What happened
Bahman Asfestani v. Current or Acting Director concerns a detention challenge filed by Asfestani, who was detained at the Golden State Annex Detention Center in Kern County. He filed the case without a lawyer under a federal law allowing challenges to detention.
The court noted that the detention facility is in the Eastern District of California and that Asfestani was detained there when he filed the petition. The court therefore transferred the case to that district.
Judge Donato ordered the transfer on November 13, 2025. The opinion did not decide whether Asfestani’s detention was lawful or address the merits of his claims.
The detailed version
- Asfestani v. Current or Acting Director · No. 3:25-cv-09683
- James Donato
- Nov. 13, 2025
Background
Bahman Asfestani filed this habeas case without a lawyer under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. A habeas case is a proceeding that asks a court to review a person’s detention. Asfestani challenged his detention by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Golden State Annex Detention Center in Kern County.
Reason for Transfer
The court stated that Kern County lies in the Eastern District of California and that Asfestani was detained there when he filed the petition. Citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 1406(a) and 2241(a), and a Ninth Circuit decision, the court transferred the action to the Eastern District of California because that was the district of detention.
Ruling
Judge James Donato ordered that the action be transferred to the Eastern District of California. The order did not decide the merits of Asfestani’s detention challenge.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.