Judge Orders Release of 35-Year-Old MS-13 Murder Convict After 5 Months Without Bond Hearing
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 6
Judge Orders Release of 35-Year-Old MS-13 Murder Convict After 5 Months Without Bond Hearing
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 6
Summary
David Antonio Aviles Perez, a 35-year-old MS-13 member wanted for murder in El Salvador, was released from federal custody in California after U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered his immediate release on Aug. 26.
Five months of immigration detention without a bond hearing or an individualized assessment of danger or flight risk violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights, Ohta ruled, saying ICE gave him "no process before or after his detention."
The order bars ICE from detaining him again unless an immigration judge first holds a bond hearing and finds renewed detention is warranted; DHS said he was subsequently released.
Aviles Perez was convicted in El Salvador in December 2025 and sentenced to 20 years for a 2014 execution-style gang killing; DHS also says he was arrested in Monterey in 2023 after allegedly swinging a machete at a homeless man.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin blasted the ruling as endangering the public and tied the case to California sanctuary policies, while the court's decision addressed procedure rather than whether Aviles Perez posed a danger.