NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! An MS-13 gang member convicted of a savage execution-style murder is out of federal custody in California after a federal judge ordered his immediate release, drawing the fury of the Trump administration. U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the release of David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, also known as “The Witch,” after finding that immigration officials held him for five months without giving him a bond hearing or determining whether he posed a danger to the public or a flight risk. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused the Biden-appointed judge of putting the public in danger by ordering the release of Avilés Pérez. DHS EVISCORES THE MEDIA FOR ‘ABSOLUTE ABSURD’ OUT OF CONCERN ABOUT LIST OF ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ACTIVIST JUDGES David Antonio Avilés Pérez is wanted for murder in El Salvador, where prosecutors say he is known as “el brujo” and a notorious member of the MS-13 gang. (Department of Homeland Security) “This radical activist judge has put American lives at risk by freeing a wanted killer,” Mullin said in a statement Saturday. “This is now the SECOND time this dangerous illegal has been released back onto the streets of California,” he added. “Because sanctuary politicians want to do politics from the sidelines, innocent Americans are in danger.” SANCTUARY LAWS COULD PREVENT POLICE FROM PROTECTING CHILDREN. SO WE’RE SUEING CALIFORNIA Members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gangs deported to El Salvador by the United States arrive in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 31, 2025. (Salvadoran Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images, File) The case centers on a brutal 2014 gang murder in El Salvador and a legal fight over the administration’s authority Trump to detain immigrants while deportation proceedings unfold. Alvise Pérez, identified by Salvadoran prosecutors as an active member of MS-13, also known as “The Witch,” was convicted while outside El Salvador in December 2025 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated murder. ICE NABS CHARGED AN MS-13 KILLER HIDING IN A NORTHERN VIRGINIA SUBURB DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and members of the MS-13 gang in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images, File) Prosecutors said Avilés Pérez and another MS-13 member chased a man through a mountainous area in La Unión before other gang members forced the victim to stop and kneel. The victim was held by the shoulders as Avilés Pérez and his accomplice approached, prosecutors said. The gang members then shot the man in the chest, back and face before fleeing. Both defendants were tried and convicted while out of the country. Avilés Pérez entered the US at an unknown date and location, according to DHS. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH BRUTAL MURDER ONE DAY AFTER CALIFORNIA JUDGE RELEASED HIM: DHS He was arrested in Monterey, California, in 2023, after allegedly hitting a homeless man with a machete in Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach. He allegedly hid the gun before officers recovered it in a nearby Holiday Inn parking lot. Avilés Pérez was charged and convicted after the incident, but was later released. DHS blamed California’s sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials. DHS PURCHASES TWO MIGRANT DETENTION CENTERS IN CALIFORNIA FOR $1.5B TO INCREASE ICE’S DEPORTATION CAPACITY A deported member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang in custody in San Salvador, El Salvador. (El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images, File) ICE agents arrested him again in San Diego on March 26 and placed him in custody pending his deportation to El Salvador. He was held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center pending removal to El Salvador until Ohta ordered his immediate release on Aug. 26, federal court records show. After nearly five months in immigration custody, Avilés Pérez filed a petition challenging his detention and requesting his immediate release. “Although the petitioner appears to have been previously convicted following a fight with another individual in May 2023, 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. ordered the release of David Antonio Avilés Pérez from immigration custody in Southern California. (California Governor’s Office) The judge said federal officials did not give Avilés Pérez “any process before or after his arrest” and had not shown that offering a hearing would place an undue burden on the government. Ohta ordered his immediate release and prohibited ICE from detaining him again unless an immigration judge first holds a bond hearing and determines that further detention is warranted. A status report was filed in the case on Aug. 27, one day after the release order. DHS said Avilés Pérez was later released from federal custody. The ruling did not exonerate Avilés Pérez of any crime or conclude that he did not represent any danger. It focused on whether immigration officials followed the process required to justify his detention. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Ohta to the San Diego County Superior Court in December 2020, according to the governor’s office. BIDEN JUDGE TORCH TRUMP ICE CRACKDOWN AS ‘LACKING RATIONAL EXPLANATION’, NUKES COURT ARREST POLICY California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a press event on August 1, 2020. 19. (Tayfun CoÅkun/Anadolu via Getty Images) President Joe Biden nominated her to the US District Court. for the Southern District of California in September 2021. She was confirmed by the Senate in December and her judicial commission was issued later that month, according to the Federal Judicial Center. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP Mullin promised that the ruling will not derail the administration’s immigration crackdown. “DHS and ICE will not be deterred by these partisan games,” he said. “If California leaders don’t protect Americans, DHS will.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Ohta’s office for additional comment and confirmation on Avilés Pérez’s release. Stepheny Price is a staff writer for Fox News focusing on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, domestic and international crime stories, homicide cases and border security.
