Overview
- U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the immediate release of David Antonio Aviles Perez on August 26, 2026 after finding ICE held him for months without required individualized process.
- Ohta found a Fifth Amendment due-process violation and prohibited ICE from re-detaining him unless an immigration judge first holds a bond hearing and finds renewed detention justified.
- Aviles Perez is an MS-13 member who was convicted in El Salvador in December 2025 and sentenced to 20 years for a 2014 aggravated murder, and he has a separate U.S. arrest in 2023 for allegedly swinging a machete.
- Department of Homeland Security officials sharply criticized the ruling as a public-safety risk and said they will continue removal efforts, while anonymous federal law enforcement sources warned similar orders are occurring in other courts.
- The case spotlights a legal tension over civil immigration detention rules and could force ICE to secure individualized bond hearings more often, complicating removal operations and prompting more litigation over detention policy.