60 Minutes finally aired the segment abruptly shelved by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss—and it began with a pointed reference to the controversy.
“Inside CECOT,” a segment on the abuse endured by two Venezuelan men when they were deported from the U.S. to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador, kicked off with an introduction by veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reportedly clashed with Weiss last month when the story was suddenly pulled just hours ahead of its original airing schedule.
The sudden postponement of the segment originally scheduled for December caused a political firestorm and internal tensions at the network, helmed by MAGA-friendly Weiss, who was appointed by Trump pal and Paramount CEO David Ellison.
Weiss, 41, argued at the time that the story “did not advance the ball” and needed more reporting, including interviews with Trump administration officials. But Alfonsi wrote in an email to colleagues that government officials’ refusal to be interviewed is “a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
Alfonsi appeared to reference that heated debate as she introduced it.
“Since November, 60 Minutes has made several attempts to interview key Trump administration officials on camera about our story,” she said. “They declined our requests.”
As the story concluded, Alfonsi also noted that the Department of Homeland Security “deflected all questions about abuse allegations at CECOT, saying the men were not under U.S. jurisdiction while in El Salvador.”
The story centered around the experiences of Luis Muñoz Pinto and Wuilliam Lozada Sanchez, who claimed they suffered torture as well as physical and sexual abuse inside El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or Terrorism Confinement Center. They were among 252 Venezuelan men who were deported after the Trump administration accused them of ties to the gang Tren de Aragua.
Much of the segment remained true to the original version that aired on Canada’s Global TV and found its way online thanks to a streaming slip-up, though it notably included more statements from the Trump administration.
Alfonsi said 60 Minutes “repeatedly” asked the DHS for the complete records and criminal background of all the 252 deportees, but the agency responded last week: “We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane.”
The show independently examined ICE data and found that neither of the two men interviewed had been convicted of any crimes in the U.S. Of the 252 men deported, 33 had been convicted, and another 70 had pending charges.
In another instance, Alfonsi said, DHS sent 60 Minutes a photo of a swastika tattoo on Sanchez’s arm. He explained that he got the tattoo when he was 15 and did not know what it stood for, adding that he regretted it and had it changed just before he was deported. Five gang experts told the show that the swastikas and 666, another one of his tattoos, are not linked to Tren de Aragua.
The complete statements from the DHS and the White House were posted on the CBS News website.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in December that President Donald Trump was “committed to keeping his promises to the American people by removing dangerous criminal and terrorist illegal aliens who pose a threat to the American public.”
Earlier on Sunday, CNN reported that Weiss said she would personally book an interview with a top administration official, such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or border czar Tom Homan.
Alfonsi and the show’s producers flew into Washington, D.C. last week to secure those sitdowns, but they never materialized, and the team left empty-handed, sources told the outlet.
CNN‘s Brian Stelter also reported that Alfonsi knew that the U.S. version would be compared to the one that aired in Canada, and that she didn’t want viewers to get the impression that the venerated newsmagazine show had been compromised.
CBS News did not immediately return a request for comment.
