Ian Andre Roberts held two other superintendent positions before Des Moines Public School district, the district’s website said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sept. 26 arrested a Guyana national who was serving as the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district despite being an illegal immigrant and facing a final order of removal from 2024.
According to the agency, Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts was approached by officers in his vehicle after he identified himself. After he allegedly sped away, officers found his vehicle abandoned in a wooded area, and he was eventually taken into custody.
Roberts was allegedly found with a loaded handgun despite having an existing weapon possession charge from 2020, an ICE press release stated. It noted that illegal immigrants are not allowed under the law to possess a firearm and ammunition, and that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would take over the investigation into how Roberts acquired it.
Roberts, who entered the United States on a student visa in 1999, also had $3,000 in cash and a fixed-blade hunting knife, according to ICE.
An immigration judge gave him a final order of removal in May of 2024.
The Associated Press reported that district spokesperson Phil Roeder said the district hadn’t seen anything “that would suggest that he’s not a citizen.”
According to Roeder, Roberts completed an I-9 employment eligibility verification form, which requires documentation of work authorization.
“This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said.
“How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” Olson added.
The Des Moines Public School District did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment before publishing time.
The school district’s website states that Roberts started the position in July 2023 after serving as superintendent of another district in Pennsylvania and the St. Louis Public Schools High School Network in Missouri. He served in other positions across the country and was named “George Washington University’s 2013 Washington, D.C. Principal of the Year.”
By Sam Dorman
