DHS General Counsel James Percival stated that Musa Diawara's asylum application included a claim that he is gay.

Posted by VINCE, Oct 28, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 70%

VINCEOct 28, 2026

Multiple outlets report that DHS General Counsel James Percival publicly said Diawara's asylum application cited being gay as his reason for fearing Mali, and one source quotes his X post saying so. The claim matches the passage, though the underlying assertion about the application comes only from DHS's account and no independent record of the file is shown.

What we found

Supports. An AOL/Trump-admin article quotes Percival's X post: after pulling Diawara's file, he found 'his claimed reason for fearing Mali was that he is gay.'[1]

Supports. A headtopics report says Percival stated the segment did not mention that Diawara had claimed in his asylum application that he feared persecution for his homosexuality if returned to Mali.[5]

Supports. Washington Examiner and Yahoo/NY Post reporting describe the administration's position that Diawara claimed asylum based on being gay, and a DHS spokesperson made the same allegation to the New York Post.[2][3]

Supports. A Gayety report citing Fox News says DHS emailed CBS on Oct. 6 that Diawara cited sexual orientation as his reason for fearing persecution in Mali.[4]

Context. The sources' account of the asylum application comes from the DHS side; the Washington Examiner notes nearly all public information about Diawara comes from CBS and administration claims, so the claim's content is a documented government assertion rather than an independently verified record.[2]