Judge who ordered ICE to free plane hijacker suddenly dies days after impeachment push

BS BRIEF:

• Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele, a Clinton appointee, has died at age 77 just days after issuing a controversial ruling that released convicted Cuban plane hijacker Maikel Guerra Morales from ICE custody pending deportation efforts.

• Florida Congressman Greg Steube had already filed articles of impeachment against Steele, accusing the judge of “high crimes and misdemeanors” and judicial overreach for releasing a convicted aircraft pirate back into American communities.

• The case has become a flashpoint in the broader national battle over immigration enforcement, activist judges, ICE detention authority, and the Trump administration’s effort to remove criminal illegal aliens from the country.

FLORIDA JUDGE’S SUDDEN DEATH COMES DAYS AFTER FIRESTORM OVER HIJACKER RELEASE

One of the most controversial immigration rulings of the year has now taken an unexpected turn.

Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele, the Clinton-appointed federal judge who came under intense criticism after ordering the release of a convicted Cuban plane hijacker from ICE custody, has died at the age of 77. Court officials confirmed Steele’s death this week, though no cause of death had been publicly released as of Thursday evening.

The timing immediately drew attention because Steele had found himself at the center of a growing political storm just days earlier.

On July 8, Steele ordered the release of Maikel Guerra Morales, a Cuban national convicted of hijacking a passenger aircraft and forcing it to land in Key West in 2003. Guerra Morales spent more than two decades behind bars after being convicted of aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew. After completing his prison sentence, he was transferred to ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.

The Trump administration intended to remove Guerra Morales from the United States. But Steele ruled that continued detention could not legally continue because deportation was not likely to occur in the “reasonably foreseeable future.” The judge pointed to Supreme Court precedent limiting how long immigration authorities may hold certain foreign nationals when removal efforts have stalled.

In his ruling, Steele wrote that Guerra Morales’ “detention exceeds six months and there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.” The judge further argued that, “The Government cannot lock individuals in a cell indefinitely as a workaround for a stalled deportation process.”

That explanation did not sit well with critics.

The Department of Homeland Security blasted the decision, arguing that a convicted aircraft hijacker should not have been released back into American communities while immigration officials continued seeking deportation options. The administration has made the detention and removal of criminal illegal aliens a centerpiece of its immigration agenda.

The backlash intensified this week when Rep. Greg Steube of Florida formally introduced articles of impeachment against Steele. “This is exactly the kind of activist judicial overreach the American people are sick of,” Steube said. “Judge Steele had every legal justification to keep a convicted plane hijacker off our streets, and he chose to let him go instead.”

Steube’s resolution accused Steele of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” through what the congressman described as a dangerous misuse of judicial authority.

The underlying facts of the case have only fueled the controversy.

According to court records, Guerra Morales participated in the March 2003 hijacking of a Cuban commuter aircraft. Prosecutors said crew members were assaulted and threatened before the aircraft was diverted to Florida. After serving more than 20 years in federal prison, he remained in ICE custody while authorities explored deportation options, including possible transfer to Mexico.

The judge’s death now closes a chapter in a career that spanned decades on the federal bench. But it almost certainly won’t end the debate surrounding his final high-profile ruling. For the activist legal crowd, apparently even a convicted plane hijacker deserves the benefit of every imaginable doubt.