Twice-deported United cockpit suspect granted asylum after transgender persecution claim: DHS

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a twice-deported Honduran national, was granted asylum in the United States after claiming fear of persecution due to being transgender. He was later arrested for allegedly attempting to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines flight and claiming to have a bomb, leading DHS to criticize the asylum system as exploitable.

• Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a Honduran national, was granted asylum in the U.S. after claiming he feared being killed in his home country because he is transgender.
• Gomez-Alberto had been deported twice previously after illegal entries into the U.S. in 2011 and 2014.
• He was arrested in November 2019 after allegedly attempting to breach the cockpit of a United Airlines flight and claiming to have a bomb.
• DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that Gomez-Alberto exploited weaknesses in the asylum system.
• ICE released Gomez-Alberto in January 2020 pending removal proceedings, and an immigration judge subsequently granted him asylum.
• Gomez-Alberto is currently held without bond on charges including terrorizing and communicating false information of planned arson.