The Superintendent of Public Schools of DES MOINS was arrested by immigration and customs compliance agents on Friday, according to the school district.
ICE said that Ian Roberts was in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having “a final elimination order and without work authorization.”
When the officers who carried out an “directed application operation” tried to approach Roberts in their car on Friday, the superintendent quickly moved away and the officers then found their abandoned car, ICE said.
The Superintendent of the School District of Des Moines, Dr. Ian Roberts, greets the crowd as passing by Grand Avenue during the Parade of the Iowa State Fair, on August 9, 9 of 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.
NirMalendu Majumdar/The des Moins Register/USA Today Network
Police helped find Roberts, and when he was arrested, the superintendent was in possession of a loaded gun, a fixed leaf hunting knife and $ 3,000 in cash, ICE said.
Roberts arrived in the United States with a student visa in 1999 and a judge gave him a “final removal order” in May 2024, ICE said in a statement. Roberts has positions of possession of weapons since February 2020, said the agency.
The school district officials said in a statement that they had no information on the “next potential steps” for Roberts.
