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California’s sanctuary law is once again at the center of controversy following the arrest of a feared MS-13 gang member known as “the witch.” This individual has been apprehended for the second time in the state after previously being detained and released during the Biden administration in 2023.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in San Diego have successfully taken David Antonio Aviles Perez, aged 35, into custody. Perez is wanted in El Salvador on charges of aggravated murder. His initial arrest occurred in Monterey, California, last year when he was suspected of wielding a machete in an assault.
“ICE has detained this dangerous illegal alien and MS-13 gang member, who is wanted for murder in El Salvador,” Acting Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis stated last week.
“The sanctuary policies of Gavin Newsom enabled the release of this gang member after his arrest on charges including assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and petty theft,” she added.
David Antonio Aviles Perez is a wanted man in El Salvador, notorious for his involvement with the MS-13 gang, where he is infamously referred to as “the witch.”
ICE netted one of El Salvador’s most notorious executioners in the same week DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was sworn in by President Donald Trump.
Aviles Perez is being held pending removal to El Salvador, a contrast to his Biden administration release as an illegal alien alleged to have threatened a California man with a machete in 2023.
The case has intensified criticism from federal officials of California’s sanctuary law under Newsom, which limits local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
DHS has called out California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom and his state’s sanctuary policies for its refusal to empower local police officials to work with federal immigration enforcement officials. (Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)
“Releasing this gang member back into California neighborhoods put American lives at risk,” Bis’ statement concluded. “Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Mullin, this murderer is off our streets and will soon be out of our country.”
El Salvador had sentenced Aviles Perez, known as “la bruja” (“the witch”), to 20 years in prison for a 2014 gang killing, according to the Salvadoran prosecution’s indictment from December, which reported he was alleged to have “shot the victim in the chest, back, and face” and was a known MS-13 gang member.
Aviles Perez’s criminal violence reportedly continued in California in 2023 after crossing the border at an unknown date. He was alleged to have “swung a machete” at a homeless man at Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach and “hid the machete which was later recovered in the Holiday Inn parking lot,” according to the report.
He was charged and convicted before being released back onto the streets.