The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informed "60 Minutes" weeks before airing a segment on Moussa Diawara that the Malian national had claimed to be gay in his asylum application, Fox News Digital confirmed. This claim contrasts with the sympathetic portrayal of Diawara in the broadcast.
DHS sent an email to CBS News on October 6, more than two weeks before the "60 Minutes" segment aired on October 23. The email detailed Diawara's assertion that he feared persecution in Mali due to his sexual orientation.
In his 2009 asylum application, Diawara stated that he would face persecution if returned to Mali because of his sexuality. "My life is hence worth threatened if I have to go back to my country because I could be executed either by the Islamic group or the community," Diawara wrote in the application. He also stated that since arriving in the U.S., he had been able to "express my feelings to men without any embarrassment no reserve."
The "60 Minutes" segment, which focused on Diawara's deportation by the Trump administration, depicted him as an anguished father whose wife and two children remained in the U.S. The report noted that a U.S. judge had expressed concerns that Diawara could face persecution, referencing fears over his conversion to Christianity. However, the broadcast did not mention that Diawara's asylum claim cited his sexual orientation as a reason for fearing return.
James Percival, DHS General Counsel and an interviewee in the "60 Minutes" segment, commented on social media after the broadcast, calling Diawara the "poster child for what it claims are wrongful deportations." Percival added, "His claimed reason for fearing Mali was that he is ‘gay,’ just in case you’re wondering how bad the immigration fraud problem is."
Diawara, who had lived in the U.S. for 25 years without a criminal record, had overstayed his tourist visa. He was apprehended by ICE and deported, first to Ghana and then to Mali. The "60 Minutes" report indicated that Diawara had since fled to an undisclosed African country.
A "60 Minutes" insider defended the report, stating that the broadcast did acknowledge Diawara's claim that part of the reason he didn't feel safe was for religious reasons, referring to his conversion to Christianity in the Muslim-majority nation of Mali. The insider also noted that the broadcast acknowledged DHS questioned the credibility of Diawara's fear of persecution claims.