LAW AND ORDER?

DHS Goon Leading Crackdown on ‘Predators’ Was Accused of Sexual Assault

Department of Homeland Security official Micah Bock has denied any misconduct toward a teenage classmate.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official who has been made the face of President Donald Trump’s campaign to arrest “predators” and “restore law and order” was once accused of sexually assaulting a teenage student.

Micah Bock, who is DHS deputy assistant secretary, appears in weekly videos for Kristi Noem’s department—including one on Monday, in which he vowed that the Trump administration would hunt down and arrest “predators [who] threaten American streets” as part of a crackdown on criminal migrants.

In 2016, Bock was accused of non-consensual physical contact by a fellow college student, who said she awoke to find the freshman “curved around her like a spoon” and was able to feel that he was sexually aroused.

The claims were made by a young woman who attended the small Christian, conservative Patrick Henry College in northern Virginia, along with Bock and one of his best friends, Madison Cawthorn, who would later become a Trump-backed congressman. Cawthorn was himself accused of sexual assault by multiple women at the college, which he denied.

Bock’s alleged victim, who now works as a legislative assistant in the House of Representatives, said he texted her afterward saying: “You definitely weren’t really asleep. You wanted it.”

The Daily Beast has decided not to publish her name.

Bock denied the allegations when they were first published four years ago by BuzzFeed, saying they were “completely untrue.” The outlet reported that he did not respond to further requests for an interview or give more detailed comments.

When approached by the Beast this month, after Bock was promoted to be the public face of DHS, Bock declined two opportunities to deny the allegations.

Instead, his boss, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, shared a letter sent to Bock from Patrick Henry College.

The letter, dated Sept. 4 this year and written by PHC president Jack Haye, read: “Recently, rumors and speculation have reemerged regarding allegations made in 2021 by a former Patrick Henry College classmate to a media outlet known as BuzzFeed News about an event that allegedly occurred in 2016 while you were a freshman at Patrick Henry College.

“The resurfacing of these allegations caused me to request a thorough review of PHC’s records and to consult with PHC administrators and staff to whom any violations of campus policies during your tenure at PHC should have been reported.

“Following this review, I can confirm that no records or other information in the possession of PHC substantiates or corroborates the claims in BuzzFeed News made by this former classmate and no other student has ever made any report concerning you in relation to the alleged incident reported in BuzzFeed News.”

BuzzFeed’s article never suggested the alleged incident took place on the school’s premises, nor that any complaint had been made.

The letter was sent to Bock earlier this month, but it is unclear what prompted its writing. PHC did not respond when the Beast asked if Bock had asked his alma mater to send it.

The allegation against Bock emerged as part of a BuzzFeed News investigation into Cawthorn, who had hired Bock as his director of communications when he was elected to Congress. A woman claimed that she had spent the evening sidestepping Bock’s advances at a 2016 pool party and was so concerned that she asked a friend to sleep beside her as a buffer.

Waking in the night, she said she found a body pressed against her and an arm over her. “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 told BuzzFeed.

The woman said she later drifted off again and woke to find Bock still there, spooning her: “I could feel, like, hard genitalia… I could feel him pressed into me and just being like, no.”

The woman’s boyfriend and the friend she’d asked to stay next to her both said she had described the encounter to them the following morning.

Her mother also said she had been told about it in the following months.“It was very upsetting,” she told BuzzFeed. “To hear what she was describing as a young virginal girl.”

PHC said the alleged victim’s mother later confronted Bock on campus. Haye writes in his letter: “PHC does maintain records of an incident in the spring of 2019, when the mother of the classmate in question physically assaulted you in the lounge and foyer of the Red Hill dormitory.

“These actions were observed by at least one student, promptly reported to the PHC administration, and investigated by campus security. This situation was resolved by the mother leaving campus and her name and license plate information listed with campus security with instructions to notify the Chief of Security should she return to campus.

“Earlier that day, this individual met with PHC staff on a completely different topic. During that meeting she did not make any allegations concerning you or your conduct.”

The victim’s mother already shared that story with BuzzFeed News, which also saw an email confirming the visit. The email showed that it took place in March 2018, one year earlier than the “thorough review of PHC’s records” had suggested.

The woman’s mom said Bock claimed “it had all been a misunderstanding.”

Haye signed off his letter to Bock: “I am saddened to have seen rumors and speculation on social media about you and the alleged conduct of PHC staff that is not substantiated by any firsthand information available to Patrick Henry College and which is inconsistent with your record with the College.

“You graduated from Patrick Henry College in good standing, and PHC’s administration and faculty are pleased to see the success you have had in your career. 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.”

Bock’s rise in the Trump administration comes after he served as Cawthorn’s communications director during the congressman’s one term in office. It was Bock’s job to field press inquiries about a series of scandals, including Cawthorn’s alleged harassment of women.

Cawthorn was accused in August 2020 of sexual assault by four women—which he denied—and his political career came to an end after a number of suggestive videos were leaked, including one in which he thrust his naked body at a male friend.

Bock later worked for other House Republicans before landing at DHS in April 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Daily Beast has contacted the alleged victim and her mother, and PHC, for comment.

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Tom LatchemLead Global Correspondent

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