Gen Z Trusts Immigrants and Colleges Now Everyone Else Is Cooked

Trust is so dead that Harvard just found two “credible” institutions left in America for 18–29-year-olds: colleges… and immigrants.

Yes, immigrants. The people half the country talks about like they’re a Wi‑Fi password that got out. Somehow they’re beating Congress, Big Tech, Wall Street, and the media in the “do I believe you?” Olympics.

Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics youth poll is basically a group chat screenshot from the nation’s most exhausted age bracket. Most institutions are getting the thumbs-down, but colleges and immigrant communities show up as weird little bright spots—like the last two unexpired items in the back of your fridge.

And don’t worry, immigration policy is still a political knife fight. Democrats want to look humane without getting torched in an election year, Republicans want to look tough without admitting half their donors rely on immigrant labor to keep prices low-ish. Everyone’s performing.

Meanwhile, the only groups winning trust are the ones Gen Z actually interacts with: professors who might forgive a late paper, and immigrant families who already know what it feels like when the system treats you like a rounding error.