Trump admin slams CBS for leaving out ‘absurd bit of fraud’ from ‘60 Minutes’ profile of deported husband and father

The Trump administration slammed a CBS News “60 Minutes” segment on Monday that failed to mention a key reason why an illegal immigrant from Mali was deported to a third country. 

Moussa Diawara, a married father of two, was deported to Ghana in July, more than a decade after he overstayed a tourist visa and claimed refugee status that barred him from being sent back to his home country of Mali, according to the “60 Minutes” profile. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insists the news program left out an “absurd bit of fraud” from Diawara’s asylum application: His claim that he’s gay. 

“This illegal alien is [60 Minutes’] poster child for what it claims are wrongful deportations,” DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote on X after the segment aired.

After pulling the immigration file of Diawara — who is married to a woman, Percival found that “his claimed reason for fearing Mali was that he is ‘gay,’ just in case you’re wondering how bad the immigration fraud problem is.” 

DHS noted Diawara was granted his final order of removal by a judge in 2012 and reiterated that the Malian national claimed on an asylum application that “he would be persecuted for his homosexuality if he was returned to his home country — despite being married to a woman he has two children with.” 

“DHS removed this illegal to a third country that provided diplomatic assurances for his safety,” the department posted on X. “[60 Minutes] left this absurd bit of fraud out of their ‘Texas dad’ segment.”

On his asylum application, obtained by Fox News, Diawara rejoiced that “since I came to the USA I had the possibilities to express my feelings to men without any embarrassment no reserve.” 

“Although I was born as a boy, but things appeared differently for me as I was already having female behaviors and feelings,” he wrote. “I was more comfortable being intimate with boys rather than with girls.”

In the segment, Diawara alleged that within days of arriving in Ghana, authorities in the West African country forced him on a flight to Mali. 

“[H]e was homeless and hiding in Mali, fearing for his safety,” CBS News said of Diawara’s situation when they caught up with him in August. 

“He was able to escape to another country with the help of some local truckers after several weeks in Mali,” the outlet added, noting that Diawara asked for the country to not be disclosed out of concern for his safety.