Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Tried to Storm a United Cockpit. A Judge Let Him Walk.

A twice-deported illegal alien from Honduras tried to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines jet Monday night and told the crew he had a bomb.

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was on United Flight 2174, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 flying from Newark Liberty International Airport to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport with 46 passengers and six crew members. Flight-tracking data reported by Simple Flying showed the jet left Newark at 9:26 p.m. on November 9 and landed in New Orleans shortly after 11 p.m.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said Gomez-Alberto began acting irrationally late in the flight and told crew members he had a bomb. The Department of Homeland Security says he tried to get into the cockpit. Pilots issued the international hijack transponder code 7500. Simple Flying reported that the crew also warned other United flights of an "attempted level four" — the most serious cockpit-threat alert.

WWL-TV obtained radio traffic from the security team on the ground. One transmission said: "Be advised, one passenger said he changed into all black before he stopped trying to reach the cockpit."

The flight crew got him to the back of the plane. The jet landed safely, was routed to a secure area, and law enforcement met the aircraft. WWL reported Gomez-Alberto was taken into custody at 12:13 a.m. without incident. No bomb was found.

He was booked at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on charges of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, and is being held without bond. ICE lodged a detainer the next day, November 10. The FAA says it will investigate. The sheriff's office said any federal charges would come after his local bond is addressed. As of this writing, no federal charges have been announced.

United confirmed the scare in a statement:

United flight 2174 from Newark to New Orleans landed safely following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard. Law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival.

Here's the part the open-borders crowd never wants to talk about. This was not Gomez-Alberto's first trip across the line.

DHS says Border Patrol caught him after he crossed illegally near El Indio, Texas, in September 2011, and again near Columbus, New Mexico, in October 2014. He was removed both times. In 2019 he came back a third time near San Ysidro, California, and Border Patrol arrested him again. Then, in January 2020, an immigration judge ordered him released pending removal proceedings.

He never left. Officials say he was living in the Bronx. For nearly seven years — including the entire Biden administration, when the border was thrown open and illegal aliens already inside the country sat in a backlogged immigration court system instead of being removed — nobody finished the job. A twice-deported illegal alien was cut loose by a judge and left here long enough to buy a ticket, board a United jet, and try to reach the cockpit.

DHS said his criminal history includes a felony bomb threat, felony terroristic-threat offenses, and disorderly conduct. Officials have not said when those offenses occurred, or whether they predate this flight.

On November 11, the Department of Homeland Security put it plainly:

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, and disorderly conduct. He has been removed from the country twice and was released a third time, pending removal proceedings, by a judge. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens who try to HIJACK AIRPLANES are NOT welcome in the United States.

ICE was just as direct:

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. Under President Trump, the safety of American citizens will ALWAYS come first. The men and women of ICE will continue working around the clock to MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!

A twice-deported illegal alien should never have been on that plane. A judge cut him loose. The system left him here through the Biden years and beyond. Forty-six passengers and a flight crew paid the price in fear. Thank God the plane landed in one piece.

Simple Flying also noted that another United flight was diverted last month after a passenger was reported to have sent texts about hijacking a Las Vegas-to-Newark jet. That was a separate case. Authorities in that incident described a 25-year-old passenger who was under the influence of alcohol, not an illegal alien.

Photo credit: A United Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX at Newark Liberty International Airport, the same airport United Flight 2174 departed from. Photo by DaHuzyBru, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Watch Fox News' report on the incident:

Sources

• Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/us/twice-deported-illegal-immigrant-accused-trying-storm-united-cockpit-threatening-bomb-dhs

• ABC7 New York: https://abc7ny.com/post/dhs-honduran-immigrant-living-bronx-accused-bomb-threat-newark-flight/20032606/

• The Washington Times: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/nov/11/united-airlines-attempted-hijacker-twice-deported-illegal-immigrant/

• New York Post: https://nypost.com/2026/11/10/us-news/illegal-immigrant-idd-as-united-flier-accused-of-bomb-threat-hijack-attempt-was-previously-busted-by-ice-but-judge-let-him-go/

• WWL-TV: https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/crime/radio-transmissions-capture-security-response-to-reported-bomb-threat-aboard-plane-landing-in-new-orleans/289-a72feb82-ce15-4e25-8f18-51e2bd6093df

• Simple Flying: https://simpleflying.com/united-pilots-squawk-hijack-code-passenger-storm-cockpit-bomb/

• Department of Homeland Security: https://x.com/i/status/2120324635531088147

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: https://x.com/i/status/2120320773617258525