David Antonio Aviles Perez, a 35-year-old MS-13 gang member from El Salvador who goes by the nickname "La Bruja" — "The Witch" — was released from custody in San Diego by a federal judge this week. Aviles Perez was being held on an international arrest warrant for aggravated murder.
The judge who freed him was appointed by Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the release of Aviles Perez despite the fact that, according to the Department of Homeland Security, he "forced a man to his knees and shot him in the chest, back, and face" back in El Salvador. ICE had arrested him in April 2026 after tracking him down in San Diego on the international warrant. He'd been sitting in custody awaiting proceedings — until Judge Ohta decided he didn't need to be there anymore.
DHS didn't mince words in response. "ACTIVIST JUDGE RELEASES MS-13 MURDERER," the department posted. "David Antonio Aviles Perez, a criminal illegal alien with an international warrant for aggravated murder, was SET FREE by Biden-appointed activist Judge."
That's not a press release from a think tank. That's the United States Department of Homeland Security, publicly naming a sitting federal judge over her decision to put an accused MS-13 killer back on the street.
The details here aren't ambiguous. This isn't a guy who overstayed a visa and got caught driving without a license. Aviles Perez is an alleged murderer with a gang nickname, an international warrant, and a specific victim who took bullets to the chest, back, and face while on his knees. The warrant came from El Salvador. ICE executed the arrest. The system was working — right up until it hit a courtroom in San Diego.
DHS went further in their statement: "Sanctuary cities and activist judges are engaging in total lunacy by RELEASING dangerous PSYCHOPATHS back onto our streets, endangering American lives." As reported by WLT Report, the language from Homeland Security reflects a growing willingness by the current administration to directly challenge the judiciary when it believes public safety is being compromised by ideological rulings.
Judge Ohta's reasoning for the release wasn't fully detailed in public reporting. Which is its own kind of tell. When the facts of your decision are this ugly — a gang-affiliated killer with a body on his record released into a major American city — you'd think the legal justification would be front and center. Instead, silence.
What we do know is that Aviles Perez is 35 years old, was arrested by ICE on an active international warrant for aggravated murder, had been in custody since April 2026, and is now free in San Diego, California. We know the judge who released him was put on the bench by the previous administration. And we know that DHS, which almost never singles out individual judges by implication, felt strongly enough about this one to go public.
The question nobody in the judicial accountability space wants to answer is simple: if Aviles Perez commits another act of violence on American soil, whose desk does that land on? Not DHS — they did their job. Not ICE — they made the arrest. Not El Salvador — they issued the warrant.
It lands on the desk of the judge who read an international murder warrant and decided the man holding it belonged back in the community.