ICE Captures MS-13 Killer Known As 'The Witch.' A Biden Judge Just Let Him Go.

ICE spent months tracking down an MS-13 gang member known as “The Witch,” a convicted killer wanted in El Salvador for an execution-style murder.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, a Biden appointee in California, ordered David Antonio Aviles Perez released from ICE custody after concluding that immigration authorities violated his due-process rights.

Judge Ohta ruled that ICE erred by holding him for five months without an individualized determination of whether he posed a danger to the public or was likely to flee.

Her ruling did not overturn Aviles Perez's murder conviction in El Salvador. So, according to the ruling in El Salvador, she freed a known killer on procedural grounds.

“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.”

Aviles Perez, 35, also known as “La Bruja,” is an MS-13 member who was convicted in absentia in El Salvador and sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated homicide. Salvadoran prosecutors say the killing occurred in July 2014 in Yucuaiquín, in the eastern department of La Unión.

According to prosecutors, Aviles Perez and fellow MS-13 member Ismael Enrique Mendoza Flores pursued their victim and fired at him during a dispute. Other gang members eventually forced the man to stop and kneel while holding him by the shoulders.

Aviles Perez and Mendoza Flores then arrived and shot the victim in the chest, back and face.

Both men were eventually convicted and sentenced to 20 years, although they had fled and were tried in their absence.

Aviles Perez, meanwhile, was living in the United States. Because, of course he was.

Court records say he entered the country on December 29, 2013 and had continuously resided here since then. ICE finally arrested him in San Diego on March 26, 2026.

It wasn't his first run-in with American law enforcement.

In August 2023, Monterey police arrested Aviles Perez after he allegedly swung a machete at a homeless man during an argument at Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach.

According to the police account obtained by the New York Post, Aviles Perez allegedly hid the machete afterward in a Holiday Inn parking lot, where officers later recovered it. He was prosecuted and convicted in connection with the confrontation.

DHS later said his California criminal history also included arrests involving controlled substances and petty theft. The department blamed California's sanctuary policies for his earlier release rather than a transfer to federal immigration custody.

ICE eventually caught up with him this spring. Then the legal battle started.

Aviles Perez filed a habeas corpus petition on August 17 challenging his continued detention at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. He had been in immigration custody for approximately five months without a bond hearing.

Judge Ohta granted the petition on August 26.

Ohta was well aware of Aviles Perez's prior murder conviction but said federal authorities had failed to show that immigration officials actually considered those facts in making an individualized determination that he was dangerous or likely to flee.

“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,” Ohta wrote.

Talk about putting bureaucracy ahead of public safety. Every t is crossed and every i is dotted when it comes to deporting illegal aliens, but when it comes to them coming to the country to begin with then it’s open season. It’s a system that is broken on purpose.

The harrowing result is the immediate release of an MS-13 gangster from ICE custody.

Making matters worse, Ohta said immigration officials cannot simply arrest Aviles Perez again under the same circumstances.

ICE must first provide the process required by the court's order, including a bond hearing before renewed detention. Insanity.

DHS, unsurprisingly, is furious with the result.

The department issued an unusually blistering statement Saturday accusing Ohta of putting the public at risk and emphasizing that this was the second time Aviles Perez had been released in California.

“Because sanctuary politicians want to play politics from the bench, innocent Americans are in danger,” Mullin said. “DHS and ICE will not be deterred by these partisan games.”

Ohta was nominated to the Southern District of California by President Joe Biden in September 2021 and confirmed by the Senate later that year.

But it isn’t like Americans need to even see who appointed these activist judges at this point.

If you see an insane ruling like this one issued in America, you pretty much know the judge was appointed by a Democrat.

"ICE does not have, and should not have, the authority to grab people off the street and detain them indefinitely without due process"

I disagree, sir. Your opinion is noted.

In this case I think anti-ICE internal bureaucracy was the cause. This fella was already convicted in his home country, and had an international arrest warrant.

He was also convicted in this country of other crimes.

A federal judge released him.

How much "due process" can one person have??

Is your hair dyed an un-natural color like blue, pink, or green?
Do you have face piercings?
Neck or face tattoos?
Do you wear pink t-shirts or vagina hats?

I'm not judging, just want to know what flavor of anti-ICE protester I'm talking with.

J6ers were held for years without trials and they were CITIZENS.

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