The Department of Homeland Security identified the passenger arrested after a disturbance on United Airlines Flight 2174 from Newark to New Orleans as Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, a Honduran who had been deported in 2011 and 2014, was arrested again near San Ysidro in 2019, and was released from ICE custody in January 2020 after an immigration judge ordered him freed pending removal proceedings.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office arrested him after the flight landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Monday night, and ICE lodged a detainer on November 10. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News, On November 10, 2026, ICE lodged a detainer for Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras, with Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office after he attempted to gain entry to the cockpit during a flight, an accusation that does not establish he made it inside.
Local reporting citing the sheriffs office said he was booked on charges of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, and DHS separately listed bomb threat, terroristic threat, and disorderly conduct offenses. United said Flight 2174, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 with 46 passengers and six crew members, landed safely following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard, and no bomb was reported found.
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