Twice-Deported Illegal Immigrant Accused of Rushing United Cockpit and Claiming a Bomb
DHS says the Honduran man on a Newark-to-New Orleans flight had been removed from the country twice before.
By COLE BRENNANImmigration & Border Security · Nov 11, 7:00 AM
LOUISIANA — A man accused of claiming to have a bomb and trying to force his way into the cockpit of a United Airlines flight to New Orleans is an illegal immigrant who had been deported twice, the Department of Homeland Security says.
Fox News reported that DHS identified the suspect as Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a Honduran national, and confirmed his two prior deportations. Just the News reported that he is accused of claiming to have a bomb during the flight, prompting the pilots to issue a reported hijacking alert, and of trying to enter the cockpit.
The flight left Newark on Monday bound for New Orleans. ABC News reported that the man was arrested after the plane landed. The Washington Examiner reported that Gomez-Alberto, 34, was arrested after he allegedly tried to storm the cockpit midflight late Monday, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer for him. A detainer asks the jail holding him to hand him over to federal immigration officers rather than release him.
No one was reported hurt. Passengers and crew deserve credit for keeping calm in what must have been a terrifying few minutes at 30,000 feet.
The bigger question is how he was here at all. Immigration officials…