ICE is also detaining an MS-13 gang member who was extradited under California’s sanctuary law
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
California’s sanctuary law is under fire again after a notorious machete-wielding MS-13 gang known as “the witch” was arrested for the second time in the state after being caught and released during the 2023 Biden administration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in San Diego arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, who is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated murder. He was first arrested and released in Monterey, California, in 2023 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly swinging a machete at a man.
“ICE has arrested this dangerous illegal criminal and MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador for murder,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement last week.
“Gavin Newsom’s local laws allowed this gang member to be released from prison after being charged with assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance and petit larceny.”
David Antonio Aviles Perez is wanted for murder in El Salvador, where prosecutors realize he is known as a “witch” and a member of the notorious MS-13 gang.
DHS CALLS RAPTURE OF AUTISTIC YOUTH ‘WORST WE’VE SEEN’ AS DEFENDANT PRISONER TESTS CALIFORNIA SANCTUARY RULES
ICE found one of El Salvador’s most notorious killers the same week DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was sworn in by President Donald Trump.
Aviles Perez is being held pending removal to El Salvador, an exception to his release from Biden as an illegal alien accused of threatening a California man with a machete in 2023.
The case has fueled criticism by state officials of California’s sanctuary law under Newsom, which limits local cooperation with federal immigration law.
DHS called Gov. California Democrat Gavin Newsom and his state’s sanctuary policies for its refusal to empower local police officers to work with federal law enforcement officials. (Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)
OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE ORDERS EXTRAORDINATION OF MS-13 MEMBER WITH HISTORY OF ROBBING, ROBBING, ATTACKING WARRANTY OFFICERS.
“Letting this gang member back to California places American lives at risk,” Bis’ statement concluded. “Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Mullin, this killer is off our streets and will soon be off our country.”
El Salvador sentenced Aviles Perez, known as “la bruja” (“the witch”), to 20 years in prison for killing a gang member in 2014, according to a Salvadoran prosecutor’s indictment from December, which reported that he “shot the victim in the chest, back, and face” and was a member of the notorious MS-13 gang.
Aviles Perez’s crime spree reportedly continued in California in 2023 after crossing the border at an unknown date. He allegedly “turned a machete” on a homeless man in Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach and “hid a machete found in the Holiday Inn parking lot,” according to the report.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
He was charged and convicted before being released back onto the streets.
