A 60 Minutes segment pulled from Sunday’s broadcast just hours before airtime has surfaced online after airing on the program’s Canadian broadcast, revealing interviews with Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.
The segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” was removed from the lineup two hours before the scheduled broadcast, Resist the Mainstream reported yesterday.
CBS News announced on social media that the segment would air in a future broadcast without providing additional details about the timing change.
Network executives determined the segment required additional reporting after CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss requested several changes.
A source at CBS News confirmed the decision came from the top levels of management.
Global TV in Canada aired the original episode with the segment intact.
The episode became available on Global TV’s streaming platform and was quickly shared across social media platforms including X and YouTube by viewers who recorded and posted it online.
The segment features veteran journalist Sharyn Alfonsi, who has worked for 60 Minutes since 2015.
She conducted interviews with Venezuelan men who believed they were being deported to Venezuela but ended up at the El Salvador prison instead.
In the leaked footage, a college student detained by US Customs before deportation to CECOT described his treatment upon arrival.
“He said ‘Welcome to Hell, I’ll make sure you never leave,’” the deported migrant stated, adding that guards told them they would never see day or night again.
Another individual described being taken to a small room without light or ventilation.
“After they locked us in, they came to beat us every half hour, and they pounded on the door with their sticks to traumatize us while we were in there,” he claimed.
Alfonsi reported in the segment that she reviewed available ICE data to confirm Human Rights Watch’s findings.
The data suggested only eight deported men had been sentenced for violent or partially violent crimes.
The segment questioned the administration’s basis for deporting the Venezuelan men to CECOT.
One migrant described conditions regarding food and medicine, stating: “The sicker and more injured we were, the better it was for them.”
Alfonsi noted in the segment that the Department of Homeland Security declined an interview request and referred questions about CECOT to El Salvador.
The segment included footage of President Trump meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele earlier this year.
Trump praised the prison system, saying it has “very strong facilities” and that El Salvadorans “don’t play games.”
CBS News had promoted the segment on social media for days before its scheduled broadcast.
The network advertised it as covering the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, describing an ongoing legal battle over the deportations.
Weiss defended her decision to pull the segment, stating it is standard practice to hold back stories until they meet quality standards.
“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” she told The New York Times.
She told colleagues during a Monday editorial call that she spiked the segment because it “did not advance the ball.”
Weiss argued that other publications had previously covered similar ground and that 60 Minutes needed to provide fresh content.
Weiss requested numerous changes to the segment, including an interview with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller or another high-ranking official.
She also questioned the use of the term “migrants” to describe the Venezuelan men, noting they were in the US illegally.
Alfonsi sent an email to other correspondents including Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley and Anderson Cooper defending the segment.
She stated the piece was “screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct.”
In her email, Alfonsi argued that pulling the segment after meeting all internal checks represented a political decision rather than an editorial one.
She requested a call with Weiss to discuss the decision but said Weiss did not provide that opportunity.
CBS sources told CNN that employees have threatened to quit over Weiss’s decision.
A manager meeting was held to address the backlash caused by the segment being pulled from the broadcast schedule.
