David Antonio Aviles-Perez — known to his MS-13 associates as "la bruja," which translates to "the witch" — was convicted in El Salvador for a 2014 murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. ICE arrested him in March after he attacked a homeless man with a machete in Monterey, California.
On Wednesday, a federal judge appointed by Joe Biden ordered him released back on the city's streets.
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, who sits on the Southern District of California bench, issued the ruling freeing Aviles-Perez from ICE custody. Biden appointed Ohta in 2021, making her the first Asian Pacific American female judge on the District Court. Her résumé is historic. Her ruling is catastrophic.
Aviles-Perez didn't stumble into the country and keep his head down. His rap sheet before the ICE arrest included assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and petty theft. At the time of his Monterey machete arrest, he was listed as "transient." A homeless MS-13 member wanted for murder in Central America, roaming California with a machete. That's who Judge Ohta decided deserved release.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn't mince words. "This radical activist judge has put American lives at risk by releasing a wanted murderer," Mullin said. "This is now the SECOND time this dangerous illegal has been released."
Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis connected the dots to California's sanctuary framework. "ICE arrested this dangerous criminal illegal alien and MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador for murder," Bis said. "Gavin Newsom's sanctuary policies allowed this gang member to be released from jail."
That's the pipeline. El Salvador convicts a killer and hands down a 20-year sentence. The killer crosses into the United States. California's sanctuary laws shield him from federal immigration enforcement. ICE finally gets its hands on him — and a Biden-appointed judge opens the door to America's small towns.
President Trump designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization in 2025, the same legal category as ISIS and al-Qaeda. Judge Ohta's ruling effectively released a member of a designated terrorist organization who is wanted for murder in his home country and has a documented history of violent crime on American soil.
Left-wing legal groups will frame this as a due process issue — that Aviles-Perez deserves his day in court before deportation. Which is a fascinating standard to apply to a man who already had his day in court. In El Salvador. Where he was convicted. And sentenced to 20 years.
Biden's presidency ended, but his judges didn't. They're lifetime appointments, scattered across federal courts from coast to coast, and they'll be issuing rulings like this one long after most voters have forgotten who put them there.
