Overview
- ICE agents in San Diego arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, an alleged MS-13 member known as “the witch,” and officials say he is now held pending removal to El Salvador.
- Salvadoran prosecutors say he received a 20-year sentence in December for aggravated homicide tied to a 2014 execution-style killing in Yucuaiquín.
- Monterey police arrested him in 2023 after he allegedly swung a machete at a homeless man, then he was convicted and released under California’s sanctuary rules.
- DHS official Lauren Bis blamed Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies for his earlier release and said returning him to the streets put residents at risk.
- How and when he entered the United States remains unclear, and the dispute highlights how sanctuary laws restrict local sharing of information and detentions for immigration enforcement.