ICE Claims Asylum Fraud in '60 Minutes' Segment Featuring Deported Migrant
Agency points to inconsistencies between a sympathetic portrayal and the migrant's asylum application which cited homosexuality as a reason for fear.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has accused a Malian national, featured in a recent "60 Minutes" segment, of immigration fraud, citing his asylum application which stated he feared persecution in his native country due to his homosexuality. The CBS News report presented Moussa Diawara as a sympathetic figure, a husband and father deported by the Trump administration.
ICE publicly stated on X, formerly Twitter, that the "60 Minutes" segment highlighted an individual who claimed to be homosexual to evade deportation. This claim, according to ICE, is indicative of widespread fraud within the immigration system.
Exclusive access to Diawara's 2009 asylum application, obtained by Fox News, reveals that he declared his sexual orientation as the basis for his fear of returning to Mali. In the application, Diawara wrote that he had experienced "extreme punishment and persecution" due to his sexual orientation and that his life would be threatened if he returned, potentially facing execution by extremist groups or community reprisal. He also stated he had been "banished" from Malian activities because he is homosexual.
James Percival, General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who was interviewed in the "60 Minutes" piece, commented on social media that Diawara was made the "poster child for what it claims are wrongful deportations." Percival emphasized that Diawara's claimed reason for fearing Mali was that he is "gay," underscoring the scale of immigration fraud he believes exists.
The "60 Minutes" segment focused on Diawara, who had resided in the U.S. for 25 years without a criminal record before being deported. According to the report, he has since left Mali for an undisclosed African country. The program did acknowledge that a U.S. judge had expressed concerns about Diawara's safety in Mali, noting fears related to his conversion to Christianity in the Muslim-majority nation. However, the report did not mention the discrepancy between his family man narrative and his asylum claim based on sexual orientation.
A "60 Minutes" insider defended the report's integrity, stating that Diawara's religious concerns were also a stated reason for not feeling safe. The insider acknowledged that DHS questioned Diawara's credibility regarding his fear of persecution.
Percival stated that his interview with "60 Minutes" was selectively edited, omitting points he made about the removal of dangerous individuals. He expressed anticipation for the full interview to be published.
Diawara arrived in the United States in 2001. The CBS segment included interviews with his wife and two children, who are in the U.S. The report noted that Diawara was deported after overstaying his tourist visa and was sent to Ghana, which then deported him to Mali.
A spokesperson for CBS News declined to comment on whether the network was aware of the contradiction in Diawara's asylum claim when the segment aired.