Florida congressman moves to impeach judge who ordered convicted Cuban plane hijacker freed from ICE

Inja News جولای 16, 2026 2 minutes read

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

FIRST ON FOX – Republican Congressman Greg Steube from Florida has filed an article of impeachment against Judge John E. Steele, Fox News Digital has learned.

House Resolution 1431 accuses Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele of the Middle District of Florida of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by ordering the release of convicted Cuban plane hijacker Miakel Guerra Morales from ICE custody.

Morales, who is an illegal immigrant from Cuba, was released from ICE custody following Judge Steele’s July 8 order.

Cuban national Maikel Guerra Morales is seen in this composite

ILLEGAL ALIEN ‘PIRATE’ WHO HIJACKED PLANE TO US FREED BY CLINTON-APPOINTED JUDGE

“This is exactly the kind of activist judicial overreach the American people are sick of. Judge Steele had every legal justification to keep a convicted plane hijacker off our streets, and he chose to let him go instead,” Congressman Steube said.

In 2003, Morales and several others assaulted a flight crew and hijacked a Cuban commuter airplane that he boarded in Nueva Gerona, DHS says.

Morales forced the pilot to fly more than 100 miles north to Monroe County, Florida, where it eventually landed at Key West International Airport.

The U.S. Marshals Service arrested him and charged him with aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew when the flight arrived.

He was convicted and sentenced to 22 years behind bars.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Despite the conviction, Judge Steele, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, ordered Morales’ release last week, citing a Supreme Court ruling governing the detention of foreign nationals whose removal cannot be carried out.

BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY

“The Government cannot lock individuals in a cell indefinitely as a workaround for a stalled deportation process,” the order said.

THREE-TIME DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH KILLING NORTH CAROLINA GIRL, 6, AFTER RUNNING STOP SIGN

wp:paragraph