A Cuban national who served two decades in prison for hijacking an aircraft and ordering it to Florida was released by a Clinton-appointed judge after efforts to deport him stalled.
In the wake of 9/11, Maikel Guerra Morales and several others assaulted the Cuban commuter plane’s flight crew and ordered them to fly to Key West, Florida. Morales was convicted and sentenced to 22 years for hijacking a commuter aircraft in 2003.
Despite Morales’ involvement in the hostile hijacking, U.S. District Judge John E. Steele in the Middle District of Florida ordered his release back into the Florida community.
Morales was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on July 8 following the ruling, even though he has a standing final order of removal.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security called Steele an “activist judge” and blasted him for allowing the illegal alien aircraft pirate to walk free in the United States.
🚨A 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… https://t.co/AwVFnYg0U3 pic.twitter.com/cQ4ZzUalrG
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 14, 2026
The case once again highlights the frivolous lawsuits and legal hurdles ICE officials face when trying to deport criminals who are unlawfully in the country.
“This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our country,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS will continue to fight for the detention and removal of criminal illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country.”
In particular, Cuba has made it difficult for the United States to deport Cuban nationals back to their country even with a final order of removal in the U.S.
The issue stems from decades of political hostility between Washington and Havana, with Cuba often refusing to accept certain categories of deportees, Newsweek reported.
When ordering his release, Steele wrote that ICE cannot hold Morales indefinitely. Steele cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving foreign nationals languishing in custody with no country to take them back.
A U.S. Department of Justice Immigration Judge issued Morales a final order of removal on March 1, 2023. ICE agents arrested him on Dec. 30, 2025, and the agency said that it intended to remove him to Mexico.
The judge said federal officials had not secured travel documents or developed a concrete plan to remove him to Mexico, Cuba or any other country.
“The Government cannot lock individuals in a cell indefinitely as a workaround for a stalled deportation process,” Steele wrote.
According to court documents, Morales was among at least a dozen Cuban nationals involved in the hijacking on March 19, 2003. The plane took off from Nuevo Gerona on Cuba’s Isle of Youth and was originally bound for Havana, CBS News reported following the hijackers’ arrests.
The men used knives to take over the aircraft, assaulting crew members and forcing the pilot to divert the flight to Key West, prosecutors said.
The plane landed at Key West International Airport, after U.S. Air Force jets scrambled from Homestead, Florida, to intercept the plane, Fox News Digital reported.
The hijackers were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and charged with aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew. Morales and five other Cuban nationals were convicted for their roles in the hijacking, according to Newsweek.
Following his release from prison, Morales was placed in removal proceedings. Even with a final order of removal, the judge granted him protection under the Convention Against Torture, deferring his removal to Cuba.
ICE released him on March 1, 2023, under supervised released, Newsweek reported.
The political turmoil between the United States and Cuba has left some Cuban nationals in a legal limbo, particularly convicted criminals such as Morales who have a final removal order. U.S. officials are authorized to deport them but struggle to find a country to take them.
In the July 8 order, Steele granted a habeas corpus petition filed by Morales following his detainment by ICE in December 2025.
Steele, a Clinton appointee, said the government failed to prove a “significant likelihood” that Morales could be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Steele noted ICE can detain Morales again if officials develop a plan to deport him to Cuba or another country. “If removal becomes likely in the reasonably foreseeable future, ICE can re-detain,” the judge wrote.
Cuba has resumed accepting some U.S. deportation flights, according to Newsweek, but the process remains “selective and subject to diplomatic tensions between the two countries.”
Human Rights Watch reported that 4,353 Cubans were deported to Mexico between January 20, 2025, and March 9, 2026.
Initial news reports following the hijacking said Cuban officials demanded the U.S. return the plane and all occupants, including those charged with piracy. Morales and the other suspects claimed at the time they hijacked the plane “for freedom.”
