Clinton Judge Releases Illegal Alien 'Pirate' Who Hijacked Plane in Wake of 9/11 - Slay News
A Democrat-aligned federal judge in Florida has ordered the release of a Cuban national convicted of hijacking an airplane and forcing it to fly to the United States.
Maikel Guerra Morales, an illegal alien, was convicted of “aircraft piracy” after he and several others assaulted a flight crew and hijacked a Cuban commuter plane in 2003.
They forced the plane to fly more than 100 miles north before landing at Key West International Airport.
At the time, Morales had an outstanding order requiring his removal from the country.
- Advertisement -Hijacker Served 22-Year Federal Sentence
The aircraft had taken off from Nuevo Gerona on Cuba’s Isle of Youth before Morales and the other hijackers seized control.
U.S. Air Force jets scrambled from Homestead to intercept the plane, and Morales was arrested after it landed in Florida.
Morales and the other suspects said at the time that they had hijacked the aircraft “for freedom.”
- Advertisement -He remained in U.S. custody and ultimately served a 22-year prison sentence for the hijacking.
A federal immigration judge ordered Morales removed from the United States in 2023.
After completing his prison sentence in 2025, he was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Judge Says Deportation Is Not Likely Soon
- Advertisement -Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge John Steele ruled last week that Morales must be released because the federal government had not demonstrated that his deportation was likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Federal officials had indicated that they intended to deport Morales to Mexico, but Steele concluded there was no evidence of “a significant likelihood that Guerra Morales will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future.”
“Therefore, he is entitled to release from detention under ‘Zadvydas’, but he remains subject to the terms of an order of supervision,” Steele wrote.
The ruling relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Zadvydas v. Davis, which limited the government’s ability to hold foreign nationals indefinitely when no country is willing to accept them.
The case involved Kestutis Zadvydas, an ethnic Lithuanian lawful permanent resident born in a German displaced-persons camp.
Zadvydas was ordered deported in 1994 because of his criminal record.
However, he had no country willing to receive him.
- Advertisement -DHS Blasts “Activist Judge”
DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis condemned the ruling as an attempt to interfere with President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Bis called the case “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.”
“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,” Bis said.
- Advertisement -Cuban officials demanded after the 2003 hijacking that the United States return the aircraft and everyone aboard, including the suspects charged with piracy.
Morales remains subject to a deportation order and will be released under federal supervision.