Twice-Deported Honduran Arrested After Cockpit Scare On United Flight
A 34-year-old Honduran man who has been deported from the United States twice was arrested in Louisiana after allegedly triggering a hijacking and bomb scare aboard a United Airlines flight that landed safely in New Orleans on Monday, Nov. 9.
United Airlines Flight 2174, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 from Newark carrying 46 passengers and six crew members, declared an emergency after crew reported that passenger Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto claimed to have a bomb and prompted pilots to report a hijacking in progress.[1] Pilots remained locked in the cockpit after landing at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport while law enforcement boarded, removed flight attendants and then passengers, and took Gomez-Alberto into custody without incident; no injuries were reported.[2][1]
Responding officers were told over security radio traffic that "the back door has been breached," and coordinated entering through the rear of the aircraft while keeping passengers corralled in the jet bridge area as they secured the scene.[2] Gomez-Alberto, whose most recent U.S. residence was listed in the Bronx, is now jailed in Jefferson Parish with no bond on state counts of terrorizing and communicating false information about a planned arson, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has filed a detainer asking the jail to hold him for pickup if he is ever scheduled for release.[3]
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials say Gomez-Alberto was first caught entering the U.S. illegally near El Indio, Texas, in September 2011 and was removed that year, then arrested again near Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014 and removed a second time.[3] Border Patrol picked him up a third time near San Ysidro, California, in 2019 after another illegal entry; DHS says an immigration judge ordered him released in January 2020 pending removal proceedings, and ICE freed him while those proceedings played out.[3] Officials have not revealed how that case was resolved or why a man with two prior deportations was in a posture that allowed a judge to grant release instead of being quickly expelled again under the earlier orders.
Under federal law, people who reenter the country after being formally removed usually have their old removal orders simply reinstated and are subject to swift deportation that is not supposed to be reopened, but DHS has not clarified whether Gomez-Alberto ever fell into that category or whether his earlier "deportations" involved some other legal process. Legal analysts note several possibilities, including that he might have claimed fear of return and been shifted into a limited form of protection case before a judge, that earlier departures were not formal removal orders, or that immigration officials chose to start a full new case in 2019 rather than reinstating an old order; without court records, it is not clear which path allowed his 2020 release. DHS has also not said whether he complied with court requirements after that release or simply disappeared into the country until his arrest this week in New Orleans.
A DHS spokesperson, emphasizing the Biden administration's tougher rhetoric under President Trump's successor from the same party, described Gomez-Alberto's criminal history as including felony bomb threat and felony terroristic threat charges at the state level, plus disorderly conduct, and declared that "under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the United States."[4] That framing aligns with conservative outlets such as Fox News and the New York Post, which have highlighted the case as evidence that prior judicial and immigration-judge decisions can leave people with extensive immigration histories free to board domestic flights.[2][4] Federal officials, meanwhile, say the Federal Aviation Administration will review the incident and that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, working with the FBI, will decide whether to bring federal charges on top of the existing state counts.[3]
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📌 Key Facts
- On Monday, November 9, 2026, United Airlines Flight 2174 from Newark landed safely in New Orleans after crew reported a hijack and bomb threat from a passenger.
- Security audio reveals responders were told "the back door has been breached" and coordinated entering through the rear of the aircraft while keeping passengers corralled.
- Suspect Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, a Honduran national twice deported from the U.S., is jailed in Jefferson Parish with no bond on terrorizing and related charges.
- DHS has confirmed Gomez-Alberto was deported twice and last reentered the U.S. illegally through California before being released by a judge in 2020.
- Pilots stayed locked in the cockpit while law enforcement removed flight attendants and passengers; no injuries were reported.
- According to DHS, Border Patrol arrested Gomez-Alberto after illegal entries near El Indio, Texas, in September 2011 and near Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014, and he was removed both times. Border Patrol arrested him again near San Ysidro, California, in 2019, and ICE released him in January 2020 after an immigration judge ordered his release pending removal proceedings. The outcome of those proceedings has not been reported. (The Dallas Express)
- ICE lodged a detainer with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office on Nov. 10, asking the jail to notify ICE and hold him for up to 48 hours beyond his scheduled release. Jail records list booking charges of terrorizing and communicating false information of planned arson, with no bond set. (The Dallas Express)
- The FAA said it will investigate. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will decide whether to bring federal charges, WDSU reported, citing the FBI. (The Dallas Express)
- Flight 2174, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 carrying 46 passengers and six crew members, landed safely at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport late Monday, Nov. 9. The sheriff's office said Gomez-Alberto began acting irrationally during the flight and told crew he had a bomb; he was taken into custody without incident. His most recent residence was in the Bronx. (ABC7 New York)
- A DHS spokesperson listed his criminal history as felony bomb threat, felony terroristic threat (state offenses) and disorderly conduct, and said, 'Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the United States.' (New York Post)
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