A Honduran illegal alien with a felony bomb-threat record who had already been deported from the United States twice was arrested Monday night after allegedly storming the cockpit of a United Airlines jet and telling crew members he had a bomb, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was taken into custody without incident after United Flight 2174 from Newark, New Jersey, landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport just before midnight, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office told The Epoch Times. The Boeing jet was carrying 46 passengers and six crew members when the man "began acting irrationally" and allegedly made the bomb threat, the sheriff's office said.
ICE lodged an immigration detainer for Gomez-Alberto the same night. His criminal history, per DHS, includes a felony bomb threat, a felony terroristic threat, and disorderly conduct. He remained in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on charges of terrorizing the public and communicating false information of a planned arson, plus two lesser counts.
Twice Removed, Once Released
According to DHS and ICE, Gomez-Alberto had been removed from the United States on two prior occasions. A judge released him a third time while his removal proceedings were pending — a decision that put him back on the street and, allegedly, back on a commercial airliner.
"Americans should NEVER have to face threats like this, especially from an illegal alien who should never have been in our country in the first place," ICE posted on X the night of the arrest.
"On November 10, 2026, ICE lodged a detainer for Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras after he attempted to gain entry to the cockpit during a flight. His criminal history includes felony bomb threat, felony threat—terroristic state offenses," — @DHSgov on X
The story took another turn when Fox News reported that Gomez-Alberto had been released into the U.S. after claiming to be transgender and telling asylum officers he feared being killed in Honduras. That claim, according to the network, helped him clear a process that critics say has been badly abused. The Blaze and Fox News both highlighted the transgender asylum claim, and Not the Bee reported he framed it as a "fast pass" into the country.
An Airliner Full of Hostages
What happened in the cabin, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, was terror: a passenger trying to force his way into the flight deck while telling the crew he was carrying a bomb. Passengers were deplaned and bused to the terminal after the aircraft landed safely. No one was physically hurt. That is luck, not policy.
The arrest was the third documented removal case involving Gomez-Alberto and the second time the American immigration system let him walk out of custody. The first two deportations were federal action working as intended. The third release was a judge's call — and the alleged cockpit rush is what came next.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has made custodial releases a central target of the administration's enforcement push, and the Trump-Vance White House has argued that sanctuary policies and lenient release decisions put violent offenders back into American communities. Monday's flight is the case study they will cite: a man deported twice, charged with a felony bomb threat, and back on a plane out of Newark.
The immediate questions for federal prosecutors and immigration judges: who signed off on the third release, and on what record? For the flying public, the questions are simpler. How many more times-deported criminals are walking through TSA checkpoints because a courtroom let them go?
Our Take
Two deportations. A felony bomb-threat conviction. And still, a judge set this man loose in the United States — where he allegedly boarded a commercial flight out of one of the busiest airports in the country and tried to get into the cockpit.
This is what open-borders jurisprudence looks like in practice. It is not a policy debate on a whiteboard. It is 46 passengers sitting in a metal tube at 30,000 feet while a twice-removed Honduran national with a history of bomb threats allegedly tells the crew he has a bomb. Every American who flies — every parent who buckles a kid into a middle seat — ought to be furious.
The claim that Gomez-Alberto used a transgender asylum bid as a "fast pass" into the country should end any argument about whether the asylum system is being gamed. The system is not a shield for the persecuted. It has become a turnstile for grown men who know exactly which button to push.
Trump's deportation machine worked twice. It was a judge who undid it. If Congress and the White House want to prevent the next flight, they should start by finding out which courtroom released this man — and make sure the answer becomes part of the public record before the next plane leaves Newark.
