Micah Bock, a senior official in Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, has become one of the most visible faces of the administration’s push to “restore law and order” by targeting so-called “criminal migrants” labeled as “predators.” But Bock himself was accused of sexual assault by a teenage classmate during his time at a conservative Christian college in Virginia.
In recent months, Bock has appeared in weekly videos distributed by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s office, where he issues tough-on-crime warnings about criminal migrants. In one video released Monday, Bock promised the Trump administration would “find, arrest, and remove the predators that threaten American streets.”
But nearly a decade ago, Bock was accused of being one of them.
In 2016, while attending Patrick Henry College as a freshman, Bock was accused by a fellow student of non-consensual physical contact. The woman, who now works as a legislative assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, told BuzzFeed News that she awoke at a pool party to find Bock “curved around her like a spoon” and pressing against her from behind. She said she could feel he was sexually aroused.
“I remember physically taking his arm and being like, ‘What are you doing?’… pushing it off of me and going, ‘You need to stop. Like, stop,’” she said.
Later, she said Bock texted her: “You definitely weren’t really asleep. You wanted it.”
Bock denied the allegation when it was first published by BuzzFeed in 2021, calling it “completely untrue.” He did not respond to further interview requests at the time—and now, as a high-profile DHS official, he still isn’t answering.
When asked this month by The Daily Beast whether he stood by his denial, Bock declined to comment twice. Instead, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin forwarded a letter from Bock’s alma mater, Patrick Henry College.
Dated Sept. 4, 2025, and written by PHC President Jack Haye, the letter stated that a review of college records found nothing to “substantiate or corroborate the claims” published by BuzzFeed News. It also noted that no other students had come forward with similar complaints against Bock.
But the letter only addressed what’s in school records. The alleged incident wasn’t reported to the college, nor did the original BuzzFeed story suggest it took place on campus.
The college’s letter doesn’t refute the woman’s account. Instead, it simply states that no formal record exists.
The allegation against Bock emerged during a broader BuzzFeed investigation into former Congressman Madison Cawthorn, another Patrick Henry student and close friend of Bock’s. Cawthorn, who hired Bock as his communications director after being elected to Congress, was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. He denied those claims.
Another woman interviewed in the report said she’d spent an evening in 2016 avoiding Bock’s advances at a pool party and asked a friend to sleep beside her to avoid being alone with him. She said she later woke up with Bock pressed against her.
“I could feel, like, hard genitalia… I could feel him pressed into me and just being like, no,” she said.
She told friends about the incident the next morning. Her boyfriend, her friend who had stayed nearby, and her mother all confirmed to BuzzFeed that she had told them about it at the time.
“It was very upsetting,” her mother said. “To hear what she was describing as a young virginal girl.”
Patrick Henry College confirmed that the woman’s mother later confronted Bock on campus and struck him. The school acknowledged that campus security got involved and that the mother was banned from returning. The college’s recent letter oddly misdated that incident to 2019—BuzzFeed had already confirmed via email records that it occurred in March 2018.
The woman’s mother said Bock told her the incident was “a misunderstanding.”
Despite the allegations, Bock’s career in Republican politics continued to rise. After Cawthorn’s short-lived congressional career flamed out—largely due to scandals including sexual misconduct allegations and leaked videos—Bock moved on to work for other House Republicans. According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined the Department of Homeland Security in April 2025.
Now, Bock is a public face of the Trump administration’s “law and order” messaging. He has yet to publicly address the sexual assault allegation beyond his brief denial four years ago.
Patrick Henry College, meanwhile, ended its recent letter to Bock with glowing praise. “We pray for your continued success and look forward to your continued association with Patrick Henry College as a valued member of PHC’s alumni,” Haye wrote.
For now, the administration that promises to hunt down “predators” continues to promote a man who’s been accused of acting like one.
