CBS News delayed the release of a 60 Minutes segment that features deportees sent by Donald Trump’s administration to a notorious prison in El Salvador, drawing widespread backlash from critics.
However, according to a report by NBC News, the segment is already circulating online after being released in Canada.
In the United States, CBS News’ editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, has delayed the release of the report titled Inside CECOT. The segment was instead aired by Canada’s Global Television Network. It features several interviews with detainees who were sent to the notorious Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, also known as CECOT. The detainees described the torture they endured inside the facility, which has faced widespread criticism for its “inhumane conditions.”
In the 60 Minutes segment, Luis Munzo Pinto, a Venezuelan national who had been seeking asylum in the United States, says, “When we got there, the CECOT director was talking to us.” The college student added, “The first thing he told us was that we would never see the light of day or night again. He said, ‘Welcome to hell. I’ll make sure you never leave.’”
You can always count on the Canadians! Just another reason to be glad Canada is Canada and not Trump’s 51st state…
Spiked CBS 60 Minutes Story Posted Online After It Airs in Canada https://t.co/cCRUbUZL3h
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) December 23, 2025
Muñoz, who was one of the 252 Venezuelans deported to CECOT this year, told the show that he was awaiting a decision on his asylum application when he was arrested by ICE agents.
Inside CECOT, which aired in Canada, also includes a clip from Donald Trump’s White House meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. In the footage, the POTUS described the prison as having “great facilities, very strong facilities, and they don’t play games.”
The segment also includes Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to the El Salvador prison in March. During the visit, she thanked Bukele for his “partnership” with the United States and described the detainees at the facility as “terrorists.”
The 60 Minutes segment was reported by Sharyn Alfonsi, who sharply criticized CBS for delaying its U.S. broadcast. She accused the network of giving in to “political” pressure. In a note to NBC News, Alfonsi wrote that the postponement came after the Trump administration declined to comment — a step that is considered standard protocol for release.
STORY ‘SPIKED’: “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi lashed out at CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss in a note to colleagues after her segment on allegations of abuses at the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT was yanked at the last minute.
“Our story was screened five… pic.twitter.com/6RezqXn9mE
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 22, 2025
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi said. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been completed, is not an editorial decision—it is a political one,” she added.
FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez called CBS’s decision “deeply alarming.” Tim Richardson, director of PEN America’s journalism and disinformation program, commented, “CBS journalists, among the best in this country, appropriately reached out to the government to weigh in on a deeply reported story from El Salvador.”
“Pulling it back at the last minute because the government chose not to respond is an insult not only to the integrity of the journalists but to core principles of independent news gathering.”
Weiss, however, said, “I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready.”
