Who Is Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto? Migrant Accused of Rushing United Cockpit

A man who has twice been deported from the United States has been arrested for making a bomb threat on board an airplane, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, from Honduras, was arrested after he allegedly attempted to gain entry to the cockpit on board a November 9 United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

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Gomez-Alberto was taken to Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and was booked with communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, according to The Associated Press.

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Gomez-Alberto was first arrested near El Indio, Texas, in 2011 and removed from the country, according to Fox News per DHS. He later reentered the United States in 2014 and was found near Columbus, New Mexico, before being deported again. Border Patrol arrested him again in 2019 after he attempted to enter again near San Ysidro, California. How he came to be in the country a third time is unclear, but a DHS spokesperson said that in January 2020 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “released Gomez-Alberto from custody after an immigration judge ordered his release pending his removal proceedings.”

“His criminal history includes felony bomb threat, felony threat—terroristic state offenses, and disorderly conduct,” the spokesperson said. The department also confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer for Gomez-Alberto on Tuesday following his arrest.

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