Weeks ago, U.S. Border Patrol unexpectedly revoked the visa of a Canadian pastor, preventing him from leading an innovative college startup in Wyoming just weeks from the start of fall classes. This leaves the Special Forces veteran and his family camping out in friends’ homes while they seek a new visa.

Harold Ristau, who also holds three advanced degrees, was a highly visible opponent of Canada’s draconian lockdowns. His family faced debanking from Justin Treadeau’s government as “domestic terrorists” because he prayed and sang Canada’s national anthem at a war memorial outside Parliament during the famous Freedom Convoy in 2022.

Ristau and his family attempted to return to the United States on June 29 after visiting family in Canada when Border Patrol rejected Ristau’s existing visa. The Ristaus legally obtained the typically three-year visa last year when Luther Classical College hired Ristau as its president.

“Dr. Harold Ristau was denied entry into the United States at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, NY on June 29, 2025, because his Trade NAFTA (TN) visa does not authorize him to work as a College President or attend an unaccredited university,” a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) representative told The Federalist. “Dr. Ristau was allowed to withdraw his application for admission in lieu of Expedited Removal under Section 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and returned to Canada. He is not permanently barred from entering the U.S. but must obtain the correct documentation for his intended activities. For information on the correct visa needed, please contact the U.S. State Department.”

A State Department representative told The Federalist: “Canadian nationals that are intending to live and work in the United States require an employment petition approved by DHS/USCIS or may qualify for TN (USMCA Professionals) visa if the job qualifies.

“For individuals who do require a visa, a consular officer may refuse to issue one if the applicant is not eligible under U.S. law. This could be due to incomplete information, failure to meet the qualifications of the visa category, or falling within a ground of inadmissibility,” the representative continued in an email. “It’s important to note that holding a visa does not guarantee entry to the United States. A visa allows a foreign citizen to travel to a U.S. port of entry and request permission to enter. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the port of entry — part of the Department of Homeland Security — make the final determination on whether a traveler may enter the United States.”

The Ristaus’ immigration lawyer filed for a new visa last week after Ristau resigned as Luther Classical president and shifted to a faculty position because Border Patrol told him his previous visa did not allow him to work as a college president.

“If this visa [application] doesn’t succeed, I’m out of a job,” Ristau said by phone last week. Because the Lutheran church body in Canada essentially fired him for opposing lockdowns, that could also leave Ristau locked out of his profession.

Ristau was a plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against government attempts to debank and defame law-abiding citizens who opposed Covid policies inspired by Communist China. Research shows lockdowns damaged hundreds of millions without any positive tradeoffs. Ristau is the pastor at the center of the iconic Freedom Convoy image below, reproduced with permission from the photographer, Yan Parisien, known on X as @FreedomPortrait.

“The Freedom convoy is peacefully protesting the harsh policies of far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau[,] who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates,” President Trump said when the demonstrations were taking place. Days ago, two convoy leaders’ sentencings were set for Oct. 7. They face up to eight years in prison. Canadian Conservative Party leaders say the prosecution is “political vengeance, not actual justice.”

As The Federalist reported, Ristau was one of a minority of courageous pastors who worked around bigoted bans on Christian worship to bring Christ’s true body and blood, the sacrament of Communion, to spiritually starved and government-isolated citizens. While locking down churches and locking up pastors, Canada’s government allowed marijuana dispensaries, death injection sites, and alcohol stores to operate.

Pastors on the front lines of this spiritual war were often treated like social pariahs by their denominational leaders rather than backed vigorously. The Ristaus lost parishioners, friends, employment, and even their home over their public stand. The couple had to essentially flee to Africa as missionaries after the Freedom Convoy, due to death threats and their church’s failure to defend parishioners’ God-given rights to worship on at least an equal basis with access to buying sedatives.

“Religious freedom is at stake here,” fellow Canadian pastor John Stephenson told The Federalist, “since the U.S. and Canada have traditionally enabled the movement across their borders of religious personnel called to exercise their offices in the other country.”

Lutherans typically issue “divine calls” to their teachers and pastors. That means the church considers the Luther Classical presidency a wholly religious position even though a college presidency also involves tasks that are not directly religious in nature. This is why Christian colleges have traditionally been governed by ordained ministers like Ristau.

A Pro-American War Hero

The Ristaus own a home in Wyoming and cannot live in their Canadian home while navigating the visa issues because it is rented out.

“I’m all for the logic underlying the Trump administration, what he’s doing, I’m totally 100 percent for it all,” Ristau said last week. “I believe that Canada can only become great again if America becomes great again.”

Ristau repeatedly put his life on the line for the United States in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His service earned one of Canada’s highest military honors, a Chief of the Defence Staff Commendation for “achievements beyond the line of duty.”

Harold’s parents emigrated to Canada to escape the Nazis and Communists. He is a retired officer in Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, and performed “chaplaincy duties in a sensitive area of military training on which he still may not speak publicly or in any detail even in private,” Stephenson said. “Dr. Ristau showed himself a man of character that Christian parents would look to as steward of their children’s higher education.”

“Thank you, America,” Ristau told The Federalist when Luther Classical selected him as president. Luther Classical is a low-cost Christian college that aims to provide continuity in higher education for the growing number of Lutherans educated in classical schools and homeschools. Classical education includes the study of Latin and often ancient Greek, as well as the Great Books of Western Civilization.

Luther Classical teaches young Americans historic Christian traditions in worship, study, and daily life. It also offers trade school pathways and two-year degrees to help students graduate with no debt and viable job skills.

No Other Man Like Him

Ristau has also pastored a congregation in one of the most difficult areas of Montreal, authored several theological books, and earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. Harold and his wife are happily married and have five children.

Achievements like these are why Luther Classical’s trustees chose Ristau as its founding president. They particularly sought his experience in earning accreditation, a top priority for any new educational institution. Ristau has led two institutions through that process, a key responsibility of a college president. His physical, spiritual, and academic valor combine for a unique set of attributes that Luther Classical could not find united in another candidate, trustees told The Federalist in October 2024.

In an effort to comply with U.S. government demands, Luther Classical announced on July 18 that it had moved Ristau to a faculty-only position and will search for a new president.

“After consultation with legal counsel, the college learned its only recourse was to request reconsideration of the ruling, and if unsuccessful, apply for a new immigration status under a faculty-only position,” the college said in a press release. “Wyoming Senator John Barrasso’s office worked diligently to request reconsideration of the cancellation of Dr. Ristau’s immigration status but was ultimately unsuccessful.” The Ristaus told The Federalist that the office of Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., also advocated on their behalf.

While Ristau served as president, the college acquired its first academic building and constructed its first student residence. Classes began on June 23 with summer Latin courses that allow incoming students to meet entrance requirements.

A Season of Suffering for an Exemplary Family

On July 20, the Ristaus laid to rest the body of their second grandchild, who died of miscarriage at 26 weeks old. Elise said it was a severe mercy that God kept them in Canada so they could be with their daughter, son-in-law, and first grandchild during the loss.

Their sons Marcus and Simon were set to attend Luther Classical this fall on Harold’s original visa, until Border Patrol revoked it. They cannot get student visas because Luther Classical cannot be fully accredited until it has graduated its first class.

While hugging his distressed wife, Harold told The Federalist that between the government targeting of his faith, the family’s two cross-continental moves in the last three years, the Border Patrol difficulties, continuing discrimination against his children for not receiving the Covid vaccine, and the loss of this grandchild, his family is going through “a communal Job experience. We just feel like everything’s being ripped away.”

Job is the biblical patriarch whom God allowed Satan to torment for a time to deepen Job’s faith.