The Trump administration on Monday criticized a CBS News “60 Minutes” segment that failed to mention the main reason 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 his 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 fraud” in Diawara’s asylum application: his claim that he is gay.
“This illegal alien is (60 Minutes) the model for what it claims are wrongful deportations,” DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote on X after the segment aired.
After looking at Diawara’s immigration record – who is married to a woman – Percival discovered that “the reason given for fearing Mali was that he was ‘gay’, just in case you were wondering how serious the problem of immigration fraud is.” »
DHS noted that Diawara obtained his final deportation order from a judge in 2012 and reiterated that the Malian national had claimed in his asylum application that “he would be persecuted because of his homosexuality if returned to his home country – despite being married to a woman with whom he has two children.”
“DHS transferred this illegal operation to a third country that provided diplomatic assurances of its security,” the department posted on X. “(60 Minutes) left this absurd fraud out of its ‘Texas Dad’ segment.”
Regarding his asylum request, obtained by Fox News, Diawara rejoiced that “since I arrived in the United States, I have had the opportunity to express my feelings to men without any embarrassment or reservation.”
“Although I was born a boy, things appeared differently for me because I already had feminine behaviors and feelings,” he wrote. “I was more comfortable with boys than girls.”
In the footage, Diawara claimed that days after his arrival in Ghana, authorities in the West African country forced him to take a flight to Mali.
“(He) was homeless and hiding in Mali, fearing for his safety,” CBS News said of Diawara’s situation when they met with him in August.
“He was able to escape to another country with the help of local truckers after several weeks in Mali,” the outlet added, noting that Diawara had requested that the country not be disclosed out of concern for his safety.
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