Biden-Appointed Judge Orders Release Of Convicted MS-13 Killer From ICE Custody

A federal judge in California ordered the release of a convicted MS-13 member wanted by authorities in El Salvador, where he has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a brutal gang killing.

David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, known by the nickname “La Bruja,” or “The Witch,” was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after US District Judge Jinsook Ohta granted his petition challenging his continued detention.

Aviles Perez had been in federal immigration custody since March 26 after ICE agents arrested him in San Diego while authorities sought to remove him to El Salvador.

His release immediately drew condemnation from the Department of Homeland Security, which accused Ohta of putting the public at risk.

“This radical activist judge has put American lives at risk by releasing a wanted murderer,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Saturday. “This is now the SECOND time this dangerous illegal has been released back onto the streets in California.”

The case stems from a 2014 killing in El Salvador.

El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office announced in December that Aviles Perez and fellow MS-13 member Ismael Enrique Mendoza Flores had each been sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated homicide.

Prosecutors said the men and other gang members pursued their victim in Yucuaiquín before forcing him to kneel. The victim was then shot in the chest, back and face, according to Salvadoran authorities.

The convictions were handed down in the defendants’ absence, with prosecutors identifying both men as active members of MS-13.

Aviles Perez later surfaced in California.

In 2023, he was arrested following an incident in Monterey in which authorities alleged that he swung a machete at another man. DHS has also listed previous arrests involving possession of a controlled substance and petty theft.

The New York Post reported that he was convicted following the California incident but was later released.

ICE ultimately arrested him again on March 26, with DHS citing the international warrant issued in connection with the Salvadoran murder case.

Ohta noted that the government had cited his previous California conviction but had not demonstrated that officials considered those facts through an individualized danger or flight-risk determination before continuing to hold him.

“The government has offered no evidence that it detained him after considering those facts and making an individualized determination of his danger to the public or flight risk,” the court wrote.

The judge consequently ordered Aviles Perez’s immediate release and barred immigration officials from detaining him again without first providing a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Ohta previously served on the San Diego County Superior Court after being appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2020.

Then-President Joe Biden nominated her to the US District Court for the Southern District of California in 2021.