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EXCERPT:
A convicted Cuban plane hijacker who terrorized a flight crew and forced a plane to divert to Florida in 2003 is back on the streets after a Bill Clinton-appointed federal judge ordered his release from ICE custody last week.
Miakel Guerra Morales, who served roughly 20 years in federal prison for aircraft piracy, had been detained by immigration authorities since December. He was awaiting deportation.
That is, until U.S. District Judge John E. Steele ruled on July 8th that he could no longer be held, despite the ongoing removal process.
A report from the magistrate judge in 2009 highlights some aspects of the brutality involved in the hijacking. The hijackers— Morales and a handful of co-defendants—wielded the plane’s emergency axes and several knives in an attempt to control the pilot and crew. Knives were, on multiple occasions, pressed against the throats of some individuals.