A Honduran national who was deported from the United States twice and later granted asylum is now facing criminal charges after allegedly trying to breach the cockpit of a United Airlines flight and claiming to have a bomb, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was arrested after United Airlines Flight 2174 landed in New Orleans on Nov. 9. He is being held without bond on charges of terrorizing, communicating false information of planned arson, and being a fugitive from justice.
Emergency radio audio captured during the response to the flight’s landing included one responder saying, “We have him at the back door. The back door has been breached by him.”
DHS says Gomez-Alberto was apprehended by Border Patrol near El Indio, Texas, in September 2011 and near Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014, and was deported both times. He was arrested again in 2019 near San Ysidro, California, after another attempted illegal entry.
ICE released him from custody in January 2020 under an immigration judge’s order while removal proceedings continued. DHS now says that an immigration judge subsequently granted Gomez-Alberto asylum.
According to an excerpt of his asylum application provided by DHS, Gomez-Alberto checked “Yes” when asked whether he feared harm or mistreatment if returned to his home country.
“I am also afraid that I will be killed–either by private citizens or the police–in both of these countries because I am transgender,” the application states.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticized the asylum system in a statement responding to the case.
“This criminal illegal alien attempted to storm the cockpit, hijack a plane, and claimed he had a bomb. Thanks to law enforcement, he is now behind bars. This twice-deported criminal illegal alien was allowed into our country because of a weak asylum system that allowed him to game the system.”
ICE lodged a detainer with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 10, requesting notification before Gomez-Alberto’s release from custody. The Department of Justice and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
