U.S. Representative Greg Steube introduced articles of impeachment on Thursday against Senior District Judge John E. Steele of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The resolution accuses the judge of high crimes and misdemeanors after he ordered the release of a convicted plane hijacker from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
The individual at the center of the case is Miakel Guerra Morales, a Cuban national who participated in the 2003 hijacking of a commuter aircraft in Cuba, forcing the pilot to land in Key West, Florida.
Guerra Morales was sentenced to 264 months in federal prison for aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew. After completing his prison sentence, ICE detained him in December 2025 while attempting to deport him.
On July 8, 2026, Judge Steele granted a habeas corpus petition and ordered Guerra Morales’s release from an ICE facility. The impeachment resolution claims that Judge Steele cited an alleged case management backlog as the basis for releasing him. It also alleges that the judge gave the executive branch less than 24 hours to file an appeal, effectively blocking their opportunity for appellate review.
Steube criticized the judge’s decision in a public statement.
“This is exactly the kind of activist judicial overreach the American people are sick of. ICE had a convicted aircraft pirate in custody while pursuing his removal, and Judge Steele ordered him released within 24 hours despite obvious public safety concerns,” Steube said. “Judges do not get to override the safety of the American people because it is inconvenient for their docket. I introduced these articles of impeachment because federal judges must be held accountable when they abuse their office and put criminal aliens ahead of the communities they are sworn to protect.”
The Department of Homeland Security also issued a statement condemning the court’s order. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called the decision “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.”
The articles of impeachment argue that Judge Steele abused his judicial discretion and bypassed federal regulations that authorize the continued detention of individuals who pose a special danger to the public. The resolution asserts that the judge’s ruling placed the interests of Guerra Morales above the security of the United States and constituted a dereliction of duty.
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