Maikel Guerra Morales, a Cuban national convicted of redirecting an airplane in the aftermath of 9/11, has been ordered released in Monroe County, Florida, despite a standing order for his removal from the United States.

In 2003, Morales and several others assaulted a flight crew and forced a Cuban commuter airplane to fly more than 100 miles north from Nuevo Gerona on Cuba’s Isle of Youth to Monroe County, Florida, where it landed at Key West International Airport. Air Force jets scrambled from Homestead to intercept the plane.

Morales received a 22-year sentence for "aircraft piracy" and has been in U.S. custody since. A federal immigration judge issued an order of removal against him in 2023, and Morales was transferred to ICE custody after completing his prison sentence in 2025.

However, a Clinton-appointed judge cited the Supreme Court’s Zadvydas ruling, which limits the length of ICE detention when removal is not foreseeable. The judge wrote, "Therefore, he is entitled to release from detention under ‘Zadvydas’, but he remains subject to the terms of an order of supervision."

An Associated Press report from the time of the 2003 arrests noted that Cuban officials demanded the U.S. return the plane and all occupants, including those charged with piracy.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated, "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." DHS also described the release as "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."

Despite the release order, authorities noted there is a significant likelihood that Morales will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future.

Sources