A Department of Homeland Security official has publicly challenged a CBS News “60 Minutes” segment about a man named Moussa Diawara, who was deported to Ghana in July after overstaying a tourist visa and evading a final deportation order issued by a judge in 2012.
Diawara, a native of Mali, was granted refugee status in the United States based on his claim that he feared persecution if returned to his home country. During his time in the U.S., he married and had two children. The “60 Minutes” segment focused on the impact of his deportation on his family.
Following the broadcast, DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote on X that he had reviewed Diawara’s immigration file and said the program had left out key information about the basis of his original asylum claim.
“This illegal alien is @60Minutes poster child for what it claims are wrongful deportations,” Percival wrote. “I pulled his file. His claimed reason for fearing Mali was that he is ‘gay,’ just in case you’re wondering how bad the immigration fraud problem is.”
According to Percival, Diawara’s asylum application stated: “Since I came to the USA I had the possibilities to express my feelings to men without any embarrassment no reserve.” The application also stated, “Although I was born as a boy, but things appeared differently for me as I was already having female behaviors and feelings. I was more comfortable being intimate with boys rather than with girls.”
Diawara’s subsequent marriage to a woman and the birth of his two children raise questions, according to Percival and critics of the “60 Minutes” segment, about whether the original basis for his refugee status was accurate. Making a false claim in an asylum application can constitute immigration fraud, which is grounds for deportation under U.S. law.
“60 Minutes” has not publicly responded to Percival’s statement as of this writing. The network’s segment did not address the specific grounds on which Diawara originally obtained refugee status.
The dispute arrives amid broader national debate over immigration enforcement policy and media coverage of deportation cases, roughly ten days before an election.
