'60 Minutes' Knew Immigrant Claimed to Be Gay on Docs, DHS Says

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated that the CBS News program "60 Minutes" was aware that Moussa Diawara, a married father of two profiled in a recent segment, claimed to be gay on his immigration documents in an apparent bid to avoid deportation. The DHS official indicated that the news program had this information two weeks prior to the segment's airing.

Moussa Diawara, who was deported in July, had claimed asylum status based on his purported fear of persecution in his native Mali. However, the asylum application documents, obtained by Fox News, indicate that Diawara stated he was gay, citing discrimination concerns and the possibility of expressing his feelings to men without embarrassment in the United States. The application reportedly included statements like, "Although I was born as a boy, but things appeared differently for me as I was already having female behaviors and feelings." He also wrote, "I was more comfortable being intimate with boys rather than with girls."

"60 Minutes" reported that Diawara insisted he could not be returned to Mali because he had converted to Christianity and feared religious persecution in the Muslim-majority country. The segment did not mention Diawara's claims of being gay on his immigration paperwork.

Diawara, who is married to a woman and described as a "Texas dad" by CBS News, was deported to Ghana in July. He had overstayed a tourist visa more than a decade ago. According to "60 Minutes," he has since fled Mali and is living in an undisclosed country.

James Percival, DHS General Counsel, publicly disclosed the information regarding Diawara's asylum claim in an X post, stating he had reviewed the immigration file and discovered the claimant's stated reason for fearing Mali was that he is "gay." Percival highlighted this as an example of "immigration fraud."