Republican Congressman Greg Steube of Florida has filed an article of impeachment against Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for ordering the release of convicted Cuban plane hijacker Maikel Guerra Morales from ICE custody. The impeachment effort follows Judge Steele’s July 8 order releasing Morales, who was convicted in 2003 for hijacking a Cuban commuter airplane and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Steube criticized the decision, calling it "activist judicial overreach" and arguing that Steele had legal justification to keep Morales detained. The judge, appointed by President Bill Clinton, cited a Supreme Court ruling that prohibits indefinite detention of foreign nationals when deportation is stalled.
Morales, an illegal immigrant from Cuba, and others assaulted the flight crew in 2003, forcing the pilot to fly to Key West International Airport. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service upon landing and charged with aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew. Judge Steele’s order noted that the government cannot indefinitely detain individuals as a workaround for stalled deportation processes.