David Antonio Aviles Perez, a 35-year-old member of MS-13, was released from federal custody by Judge Jinsook Ohta in California despite facing an aggravated murder warrant in El Salvador. Aviles Perez was apprehended by ICE agents in San Diego in April on an international warrant for aggravated murder and had been held pending extradition. Judge Ohta ruled that he must be released unless federal authorities can demonstrate at a bail hearing that he poses a danger to the community or is a flight risk.
Federal law enforcement officials criticized the decision, stating that 'criminal aliens are being released from ICE custody by activist judges on courts across the country.' They attributed this trend to the inability of lower-level federal prosecutors to appeal such decisions due to staffing and resource constraints.
Aviles Perez is wanted in El Salvador for a gang-related murder and has a history of violence in the U.S. He was arrested in 2023 for assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly attacking a man with a machete in Monterey, California. He was released under California’s sanctuary laws prior to his arrest by ICE.
In December, El Salvador sentenced Aviles Perez to 20 years in prison for aggravated homicide related to a 2014 murder. He and an accomplice were accused of following and shooting a man during a dispute. The details of how Aviles Perez entered the U.S. remain unclear, but he first came to the attention of California law enforcement nearly a decade after the murder.
His release follows a similar decision regarding another Salvadoran gang member, Luis Valle, who was also released from ICE custody. Valle had been convicted of first-degree murder in the early 1990s and was released from state prison on parole last year. Both judges involved in these cases were nominated to their positions by President Joe Biden in 2021.