A convicted MS-13 killer known as "The Witch" is back on California streets after a Biden-appointed judge ordered his release from immigration custody, drawing a blistering response from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
A convicted MS-13 killer wanted for murder in El Salvador is free in California after a Biden-appointed federal judge ordered his release from immigration custody, and the Trump administration is not hiding its fury.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin publicly condemned the ruling on Saturday, warning that the judge "put American lives at risk" by setting the gang member loose. It is the second time the man has walked free in the United States.
David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, is known inside MS-13 as "La Bruja," or "The Witch." Salvadoran prosecutors identified him as an active gang member and obtained a conviction against him in December 2025 even though he was outside the country at the time. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated murder.
The case stems from a brutal 2014 gang killing in El Salvador's La Union region. Prosecutors said Aviles Perez and another MS-13 member chased a man through a mountainous area before fellow gang members forced the victim to stop and kneel. The victim was held by the shoulders as Aviles Perez and his accomplice approached and shot him in the chest, back, and face before fleeing.
Aviles Perez entered the United States at an unknown date and location, according to DHS. His path through the American justice system has now produced two separate releases.
In 2023, Aviles Perez was arrested in Monterey, California, after allegedly swinging a machete at a homeless man at Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach. Authorities said he hid the weapon before officers recovered it from a nearby Holiday Inn parking lot.
He was charged and convicted in that case but later released from custody. DHS pointed the finger at California's sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials.
ICE agents arrested him again in San Diego on March 26 and took him to the Otay Mesa Detention Center while his removal to El Salvador moved forward. Nearly five months later, Aviles Perez filed a petition challenging his detention.
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta of the Southern District of California ordered his immediate release on Aug. 26. Ohta ruled that immigration officials violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights by holding him for months without a bond hearing or an individualized assessment of whether he posed a danger or was likely to flee.
The judge barred ICE from detaining him again unless an immigration judge first holds a bond hearing and determines renewed detention is warranted. A status report was filed the next day, and DHS confirmed Aviles Perez was subsequently released from federal custody.
Ohta's background has become part of the political fight. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her to the San Diego County Superior Court in December 2020, and President Joe Biden nominated her to the federal bench in September 2021. The Senate confirmed her that December.
"This radical activist judge has put American lives at risk by releasing a wanted murderer," Mullin said in a statement Saturday. "This is now the SECOND time this dangerous illegal has been released back onto the streets in California. Because sanctuary politicians want to play politics from the bench, innocent Americans are in danger."
Mullin made clear the ruling will not slow the administration's immigration crackdown. "DHS and ICE will not be deterred by these partisan games," he said. "If California's leaders won't protect Americans, DHS will."
The release is the latest flashpoint in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and federal judges over the detention of criminal aliens. The administration has argued that dangerous gang members must be held while removal proceedings run their course, while critics of prolonged detention have pressed for hearings and individualized review.
Aviles Perez now faces an uncertain future. The release order does not clear him of anything -- it focused solely on whether immigration officials followed the required process to keep him locked up while awaiting deportation. He remains wanted for murder in El Salvador, and ICE could seek a bond hearing before an immigration judge in hopes of returning him to custody.
The case also keeps the spotlight on California's sanctuary laws, which DHS says made the situation possible in the first place. Mullin's message Saturday was blunt: the administration intends to keep pushing, regardless of what happens in any single courtroom.
For now, a convicted MS-13 murderer is back on the streets of California, and the fight over how he got there is far from over.
A convicted MS-13 killer known as "The Witch" is back on California streets after a Biden-appointed judge ordered his release from immigration custody, drawing a blistering response from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
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