A federal judge in San Diego has ordered the release of a man wanted in El Salvador for aggravated murder, despite his status as a member of the MS-13 gang and a history of violence. David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in April on an international warrant.
Federal Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered Aviles Perez released from a Southern California ICE detention facility last Wednesday. The judge stated that Aviles Perez must remain in custody only if federal authorities could prove at a bail hearing that he posed a danger to the community or was a flight risk. Aviles Perez still faces an active aggravated murder warrant in his home country.
A federal law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, criticized the decision, calling it the work of an "activist judge." The official expressed concern that "criminal aliens are being released from ICE custody by activist judges on courts across the country" and suggested that "staffing and resource constraints" might be hindering prosecutors from appealing such rulings.
Aviles Perez is accused of aggravated homicide in El Salvador for a 2014 gang-related murder. According to the El Salvador Attorney General's office, Aviles Perez and an accomplice murdered a man in Yucuaiquín. The indictment states that Aviles Perez, also known as "the witch" or "la bruja," and other gang members pursued the victim, shot him, and then forced him to kneel while they shot him again in the chest, back, and face. Both individuals were identified as active MS-13 members at the time of the incident.
In December, Salvadoran officials sentenced Aviles Perez in absentia to 20 years in prison for aggravated homicide. The exact circumstances of his entry into the U.S. are unclear, but he came to the attention of California law enforcement in August 2023.
Monterey police arrested Aviles Perez on charges of assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly swung a machete at a homeless man during an argument in a park. He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance and petty theft. According to DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, California's sanctuary laws allowed Aviles Perez to be released back into the community despite these charges, a decision she stated "put American lives at risk."
Aviles Perez was convicted of the 2023 charges in Monterey but was ultimately released. He had been held by ICE pending his extradition to El Salvador to face the murder charges and serve his sentence. His release last week means he is now free in the U.S. while the extradition process is pending.
In a separate but similar case, U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez ordered the release of another Salvadoran national, Luis Valle, who was awaiting removal. Valle had been sentenced to life in prison for a first-degree murder conviction in Los Angeles in the early 1990s and had been paroled just last year. Judge Lopez ruled that there was "good reason to believe that there is no significant likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future."