White House / President·Immigration

Update: DHS says twice-deported United cockpit suspect was granted asylum after claiming he feared being killed as transgender

Published 6:00 AM CT, Thursday, November 12, 2026 · Updated 6:10 AM CT
In the 6 AM CT update

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, the Honduran accused of trying to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines flight on Nov. 9 while claiming to have a bomb, was granted asylum by an immigration judge after his third attempted illegal entry in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News. An application excerpt released by DHS quotes him writing, "I am also afraid that I will be killed — either by private citizens or the police — in both of these countries because I am transgender." DHS said he was deported after 2011 and 2014 border crossings and released by ICE in January 2020 on a judge's order; Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he was "allowed into our country because of a weak asylum system."

• Asylum
• United Airlines
• Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto
• DHS
• Markwayne Mullin
• Honduras
• Immigration courts
• Aviation security
• Illegal immigration