The superintendent of Des Moines Public Colleges — Iowa’s largest faculty district – was detained Friday morning by immigration brokers, in accordance with the Division of Homeland Safety, which stated the educator was within the nation illegally and had current weapon possession costs.
Superintendent Ian Roberts – an educator with many years of expertise who beforehand competed as an Olympic athlete for Guyana – was arrested as a part of a “focused enforcement operation” and fled after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers approached him, in accordance with statements from DHS and the Iowa Division of Public Security.
DHS stated he was “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in money and a set blade looking knife” on the time of his arrest. It’s a violation of federal legislation to personal a firearm and ammunition if a person doesn’t have authorized standing within the US.
CNN is working to establish Roberts’ legal professional.
The college district and DHS introduced starkly divergent portraits of Roberts. DHS described him as a “felony alien” and steered he was a public security menace. However at a information convention after his arrest, board president of Des Moines Public Colleges Jackie Norris stated the superintendent was “an integral a part of our college group” who “has proven up in methods huge and small” for college students and employees.
The arrest spurred a protest outdoors the federal courthouse in Des Moines. “Schooling, not deportation / Free Dr. Roberts,” learn one signal carried by a demonstrator, in accordance with footage from CNN affiliate KCCI.
The Iowa Board of Academic Examiners issued Roberts a license to function superintendent within the state in July 2023, in accordance with Norris.
“There’s new info that has been made public that we didn’t know, and we’ve not been in a position to confirm,” Norris stated.
Roberts oversaw over 30,000 college students within the Des Moines public faculty system, in accordance with the district’s web site, and had beforehand labored at public colleges throughout the nation.
One other administrator, Matt Smith, has taken the position of interim superintendent within the meantime, in accordance with a message posted on social media by the district earlier.
“Our precedence is to offer a secure, safe and excellent training for all college students and to assist our college students, households, and workers,” the assertion learn.
Roberts’ arrest comes amid the Trump administration’s continued crackdown on immigration, which has seen raids on workplaces and arrests of group pillars together with a firefighter, a journalist and a pastor.
Superintendent was given ultimate order of removing in 2024, DHS says
Roberts entered the US on a scholar visa in 1999 and was given a ultimate order of removing by an immigration decide in Could 2024, in accordance with the DHS assertion. He had current weapon costs from 2020, the company added.
Des Moines Public Colleges stated it was unaware of the order of removing however Roberts did inform the college board of a firearms offense associated to a looking rifle throughout his hiring course of. The district stated in a press release Roberts “offered ample context and rationalization of the scenario to maneuver ahead within the hiring course of.”
Public information present Roberts pleaded responsible to a weapon cost in Pennsylvania in 2022. CNN has been unable to confirm whether or not Roberts has a separate cost from 2020.
The district additionally stated Roberts submitted an employment eligibility verification type and an I-9 as a part of the hiring course of.
“The district has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been in a position to discuss with Dr. Roberts since his detention,” district spokesperson Phil Roeder stated.
ICE Enforcement and Removing Operations St. Paul Subject Workplace Director Sam Olson stated in a press release Robertson’s arrest must be a “wake-up name for our communities to the nice work that our officers are doing every single day to take away public security threats.”
ICE’s on-line detainee locator system exhibits Roberts was born in Guyana and is being held at a county jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Roberts was named Des Moines Public Colleges superintendent in 2023, in accordance with the district’s web site. He was “born to immigrant mother and father from Guyana, and spent most of his adolescence in Brooklyn, NY,” the web site reads.
Earlier than turning into an educator, the superintendent was an Olympic athlete and competed in monitor and discipline on the 2000 Olympic Video games in Sydney, Australia.
Roberts’ lengthy instructional profession has included positions in New York Metropolis; Baltimore; Washington, DC; St. Louis; Oakland, California; and Erie, Pennsylvania, in accordance with his LinkedIn profile.
Among the many crowd protesting Roberts’ arrest Friday was district instructor Mary Pat LaMair, who stated she was excited to see the show of assist.
“I simply assume it’s actually necessary that we care for each other, and we appear to be at a spot the place that’s not what’s occurring,” LaMair instructed CNN affiliate KCCI. She added, “It’s necessary for folks to know that most of the people, I believe, will not be okay with what’s occurring.”
The Administrators Council — a nonprofit group serving Des Moines’ Black group — recognized Roberts as a board member and supplied him their “full assist” in a submit on Fb.
Roberts “has been a trusted accomplice, a devoted advocate for fairness, and an unwavering supporter of households and youth in Polk County,” reads the submit. “His contributions to each The Administrators Council and the broader group are immeasurable, and we stand with him throughout this unsure second.”
In a video assertion posted on their Fb web page, organizers from the Iowa Motion for Migrant Justice stated information of the superintendent’s detention was stunning and scary for immigrant communities.
“We all know prematurely that our households proper now are afraid that in the event that they go to select up their children, in the event that they ship them to high school, if immigrant brokers are going to go take their children out of faculty,” Elizabeth Balcarcel stated within the video assertion. “There are a lot of questions, many doubts.”
The Des Moines Faculty Board has scheduled a particular closed-session assembly on Saturday to debate the arrest and Roberts’ standing with the district.
CNN’s Catherine Shoichet contributed to this report.
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