What to know about CECOT – after 60 Minutes abruptly pulls segment on the notorious El Salvador prison

December 22, 2025 | 10:04am

Interest in El Salvador’s notorious maximum-security prison, CECOT, is spiking once again, after CBS News yanked a “60 Minutes” segment on Venezuelan migrants sent there by the Trump administration. The unusual move came just hours before the story was scheduled to air. While the network is claiming that the last-minute switch was because the segment “needed additional reporting,” the report’s correspondent, Sharon Alfonsi, is telling a different story. She quickly fired off an email to fellow correspondents, alleging that the network’s new boss, Bari Weiss, quote “spiked our story” for politically-motivated reasons. The segment in question was supposed to feature Alfonsi’s interviews with deportees who experienced “brutal and torturous” conditions at the hellhole prison after being sent there by the Trump administration.