Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele of the Middle District of Florida grabbed headlines earlier this week after he ordered that convicted Cuban hijacker Maikel Guerra Morales be released from ICE custody. An immigration judge had issued a standing removal order against Morales back in 2023, but Steele decided to release the illegal alien back into the community.
Sadly, Judge Steele, a Clinton appointee, is back in the headlines again for an entirely different reason: his sudden passing at age 77. An odd turn of events, to be sure.
In the post-9/11 hijacking, Maikel Guerra Morales was convicted of the 2003 hijacking of a Cuban commuter plane and ordering that it be flown to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. RedState's Rusty Weiss had more specifics on what went down during the hijacking:
A report from the magistrate judge in 2009 highlights some aspects of the brutality involved in the hijacking. The hijackers— Morales and a handful of co-defendants—wielded the plane’s emergency axes and several knives in an attempt to control the pilot and crew. Knives were, on multiple occasions, pressed against the throats of some individuals.
Morales was, according to the document, one of two assailants who pushed a steward "face down to the floor of the cabin" and "held a knife to his throat as they bound his hands behind him with a cord."
During the chaos, the flight technician grabbed an axe to fight back, but reportedly stopped when he heard shouting from the passenger cabin that the hijackers had taken children hostage.
Morales has been in U.S. custody ever since, serving a 22-year sentence for "aircraft piracy" before being taken into custody by ICE, which had plans to deport him to Mexico.
Judge Hannah Dugan, Who Helped Illegal Alien Evade ICE, Gets Unbelievable Slap on the Wrist
On July 8, Judge Steele found no evidence that federal officials would remove Morales "in the reasonably foreseeable future," and determined the illegal was "entitled to release from detention."
Those federal officials were not pleased.
🚨A CLINTON-APPOINTED Activist Judge ordered ICE to RELEASE an illegal alien who hijacked a plane.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 14, 2026
The illegal alien, Maikel Guerra Morales from Cuba, was convicted in 2003 of aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew after he hijacked a plane and forced it… https://t.co/AwVFnYg0U3 pic.twitter.com/cQ4ZzUalrG
CLINTON-APPOINTED Activist Judge ordered ICE to RELEASE an illegal alien who hijacked a plane.
The illegal alien, Maikel Guerra Morales from Cuba, was convicted in 2003 of aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew after he hijacked a plane and forced it to fly to Key West, Florida.
ICE took Morales into prison following completion of his prison sentence. He was issued a final order of removal in 2023.
This is yet ANOTHER example of an activist judge trying to thwart @POTUS Trump’s mandate from the American People to REMOVE criminal illegal aliens from our nation.
Republicans were also incensed over Morales' release. GOP Rep. Greg Steube (FL-17) had even filed an article of impeachment against Steele, saying, "This is exactly the kind of activist judicial overreach the American people are sick of."
Scant few details are available about Steele's death just days after his controversial decision, but it reportedly "was confirmed by a legal source in Miami as well as a law clerk for Chief Judge Marcia Morales Howard of the Middle District of Florida, where Steele served."
Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at RedState, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical Left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
Help us continue to tell the truth about the Trump administration and its successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member