Twice-deported United cockpit suspect granted asylum after transgender persecution claim: DHS
DHS says a twice-deported Honduran national won asylum claiming transgender persecution before allegedly trying to storm a United Airlines cockpit.
TL;DR
- 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.