Trans Asylum Claim Has DHS Explaining How Hijacking Suspect Was ‘Gaming’ The System

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is accusing the twice-deported migrant accused of trying to hijack a United Airlines flight this week of asylum fraud.

Honduran migrant Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto allegedly said he had a bomb and attempted to storm the cockpit of United Flight 2174 from Newark to New Orleans on Monday night.

It was later revealed that he crossed the southern border illegally once in 2011 and again in 2014 and was deported each time. When he arrived at the border for the third time in 2019, he was allowed to enter after claiming he needed asylum and feared returning to his home country, where he said he faced persecution for being transgender, as first reported by The Daily Wire.

He was granted asylum in 2020 based on the transgender claim, a law enforcement source said.

Now, DHS is accusing Gomez-Alberto of “gaming … a weak asylum system.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership, ICE has arrested 2,312 known or suspected terrorists and is strengthening our asylum system to put the safety of the American citizens first and crack down on fraudsters who try to game the system,” an agency spokesperson said.

The Honduran man was detained in the back of the plane after the flight crew convinced him to move away from the cockpit so the plane could land safely in New Orleans, according to the New York Post, citing air traffic control audio.

“He changed into all black before he started trying to reach the cockpit,” local authorities were heard saying in the audio recording, according to the New York Post.

Authorities arrested Gomez-Alberto once the plane landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the outlet reported.

The flight, carrying 46 passengers and six crew members, “landed safely following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard,” United Airlines told Fox News.

“Law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival,” the airline said.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office booked Gomez-Alberto on charges of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, according to local reports.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later lodged a detainer, asking local authorities in Louisiana to transfer him to federal custody upon any future release, a Homeland Security spokesperson told The Daily Wire.