“Fake & Gay!” That’s how ICE’s official X account opened a post Oct. 26 about Moussa Diawara, a man the U.S. deported in July.
The night before, 60 Minutes had aired Diawara’s story. He’d lived in the Houston suburbs for about 25 years with his wife, Barbara, a nurse, and their two kids, who are U.S. citizens. In 2012 a U.S. immigration judge ruled he couldn’t be deported to Mali, his home country, because he’d likely be persecuted there, CBS News reported. He drove for Uber. CBS said he had no criminal record.
ICE arrested him July 11 and flew him to Ghana July 31. Within five days, he said, Ghanaian officials put him on a flight to Mali anyway. “This is kidnapping. You guys kidnapped us,” he told correspondent Gianna Toboni.
What DHS General Counsel James Percival Posted
DHS general counsel James Percival said on X that he had reviewed Diawara’s file. He cited a claim of persecution based on sexual orientation and alleged immigration fraud. Those are the official’s allegations. Marriage to a woman and parenthood do not, by themselves, establish someone’s sexual orientation or prove fraud.
ICE then amplified the allegation. Fox News said it obtained pages from the 2009 application. The outlet did not identify how it obtained them.
What Federal Asylum Confidentiality Rules Say
The current asylum confidentiality regulation, 8 CFR 208.6, generally protects application information from disclosure without written consent. It also permits disclosures at the DHS secretary’s discretion and contains exceptions for specified official work, investigations, litigation and other circumstances. Access to a file and authority to disclose it publicly are separate questions.
The reporting reviewed for this article does not establish whether Diawara consented, the secretary authorized disclosure, or another exception applied. It therefore does not establish whether the posts violated the regulation.
Diawara’s own fears were part of the 60 Minutes report. He told CBS he’d converted to Christianity and feared going back to Mali, which is mostly Muslim. DHS told CBS that Ghana gave “diplomatic assurances for his safety” and questioned whether his fear claims were credible.
Where Diawara Is Now
He said he was homeless in Mali, with no money or ID. After about three weeks, truckers helped him get to another African country, CBS reported. CBS didn’t name it, at his request.
His lawyer, Reuben S. Kerben, has asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to order him returned to the U.S. Neither of them had publicly addressed the asylum file as of Oct. 27. CBS declined to comment to IBTimes UK.
“It feels really empty without him,” his son Corey, 16, told CBS.
