ICE arrest the superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa

The Superintendent of the Public Schools of Des Moines in Iowa was arrested Friday morning by immigration agents, according to the Department of National Security, which said the educator was illegally in the country and had positions of possession of existing weapons.

Superintendent Ian Roberts, an educator with decades of experience who previously competed as an Olympic athlete, was arrested as part of a “specific application operation” and fled after immigration officers and compliance with the customs of the United States approached him, according to statements of DHS and Iowa of the Department of Public Security.

DHS said he was “in possession of a loaded gun, $ 3,000 in cash and a fixed knife hunting knife” at the time of his arrest. It is a violation of the federal law to have a firearm and ammunition if an individual has no legal status in the United States.

CNN is working to identify Roberts’s lawyer.

The IowA Educational Examine Board issued Roberts a license to serve as a superintendent in the state in July 2023, said Jackie Norris, president of the Board of Public Schools of Des Moines, at a press conference on Friday.

“There is a new information that has been made public that we did not know, and we have not been able to verify,” Norris said.

The school district announced that Roberts was arrested by ICE in a message posted on social networks, saying that “they had no information” why he was arrested or “the next potential steps.”

Meanwhile, another administrator, Matt Smith, has assumed the role of interim superintendent, according to the statement.

“Our priority is to provide a safe, safe and outstanding education for all students and support our students, families and employees,” reads the statement.

Roberts entered the United States with a student visa in 1999 and an immigration judge gave him a final removal order in May 2024, according to the DHS statement. He had charges of existing weapons derived from 2020, the agency added.

Public records show that Roberts declared himself guilty of a weapon charge in 2022.

“This should be a attention call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to eliminate public security threats,” said St. Field Office of St. Paul Operations ICE application operations in a statement in a statement

The ICE online location system shows that Roberts was born in Guyana and is being held in a county jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Roberts was appointed Superintendent of the Public Schools of Des Moines in 2023, according to the District website. He “was born from Guyana immigrant parents, and spent most of his years of training in Brooklyn, NY,” says the website.

Before becoming an educator, the Superintendent was an Olympic athlete and competed in athletics at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Roberts’ long educational career has included positions in New York City; Baltimore, Washington, DC; San Luis, Oakland, California; and Erie, Pennsylvania, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The Director Council, a non -profit group that serves the black community of Des Moines, identified Roberts as a member of the Board and offered him his “total support” on a Facebook post.

Roberts “has been a trusted partner, a dedicated defender of equity and an unwavering defender of families and young people in Polk County,” says the position. “His contributions to both the Council of Directors and the community in general are immeasurable, and we are with him during this uncertain moment.”

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