The segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” was scheduled to run Sunday evening and focus on what advocates describe as brutal and tortuous conditions at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, a maximum-security prison where the Trump administration has sent alleged undocumented immigrants for detention. About three hours before airtime, the program announced it was postponing the report.
In an editor’s note posted on social media around 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, “60 Minutes” said the broadcast lineup had been updated and that the CECOT report would air in a future episode. A CBS News spokesperson later said the decision was made because the segment needed additional reporting.
The delay came amid renewed attacks on the show by President Donald Trump. In recent weeks, Trump has accused “60 Minutes” of unfair coverage and criticized its parent company, Paramount, which is now controlled by David Ellison and his father, tech billionaire Larry Ellison, a known Trump supporter. Trump has claimed that the program’s treatment of him has worsened since the ownership change.
The postponed report was to be led by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and include interviews with deportees sent by the U.S. government to CECOT. According to the National Immigration Law Center, more than 280 young men were transferred to the prison in March and April 2025 without notice to their families or lawyers. The group said the men were held incommunicado and tortured. Four months later, 252 were released and sent to Venezuela, a country many had previously fled, citing fear of persecution.
Trump has also recently targeted “60 Minutes” over other coverage, including a December interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that aired earlier this month. In posts on his Truth Social account, Trump accused the program and its new owners of bias and claimed they were no better than the previous management.
Earlier this year, Paramount Global paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump alleged was deceptively edited and harmed him politically. Around the same period, David Ellison made several high-profile media moves, including acquiring The Free Press outlet and appointing its founder as CBS News’ editor in chief, prompting industry speculation about efforts to improve relations with Trump and his supporters.
With the CECOT report pulled, Sunday’s “60 Minutes” instead aired a lighter segment about the Kanneh-Mason family, a group of seven young classical musicians from England, along with an extended report on sherpas at Mount Everest.
CBS News has not said when the delayed prison investigation will air, leaving open questions about the timing of the decision and whether political criticism played a role.
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