Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to deport the top public school official in Des Moines, Iowa, where school leadership is “sad, outraged and helpless” after a police chase led to his arrest and detention.
Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts, 54, was arrested Friday. He is being held at Pottawattamie County Jail in ICE custody.
Roberts, who is originally from Guyana, had moved to the United States on a student visa in 1999 and lived in Brooklyn before serving as a school official in Pennsylvania. He has served as public schools superintendent for Iowa’s largest school district since July 2023.
Before a career in education, Roberts competed as a mid-distance runner for Guyana in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
He received a final removal order from an immigration judge in May 2024 and did not have legal permission to work in the country or possess a firearm, according to ICE.
Roberts fled from ICE agents Friday morning and abandoned his car in a wooded area, according to ICE. The agency said Roberts has existing weapon possession charges from February 5, 2020, and officers recovered a loaded Glock handgun, $3,000 in cash and a hunting knife when he was detained.
Sam Olson, St. Paul field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removals Operations, said Roberts’ arrest “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.”
“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,” he added.
In a brief press conference Friday, Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris said Roberts is “an integral part of our school community” who has “shown up in ways big and small and advocated for students and staff” since leading the city’s public schools two years ago.
Des Moines public schools interim superintendent Matt Smith said the community is “devastated by the news.”
“We stand firm with our community, many of whom are feeling sad, outraged and helpless,” he added.
Mazie Stilwell, director of progressive advocacy group Progress Iowa and a Des Moines public schools parent, said “no Iowan is safe.”
“It is time for them to finally stand up for us and stop these attacks on our freedoms and our communities,” she said in a statement. “Every Iowan should call their legislators and ask why Iowans are being detained, and what they are doing to protect us.”
A joint statement from Iowa State Education Association President Joshua Brown and Des Moines Education Association President Anne Cross said Roberts has been a “tremendous advocate for students, families, staff and the community.”
“His leadership and compassion for all students, regardless of background, identity or family origin, are a beacon of light in one of the state's most diverse school districts,” they said.
Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, a nonprofit organization that offers legal services to immigrants in the state, has “serious concerns about the constitutionality of his arrest” and is awaiting details.
“As ICE continues to terrorize our communities and disappear our community members, this latest escalation highlights the need for communities to stand together and defend against ICE attacks,” the group said.
In an alumni story published by Maryland’s Coppin State University before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Roberts said his father came to the United States in the 1980s and his mother arrived in the early 2000s. Both parents sought better opportunities for themselves and their family, he said at the time.
“The way that my mother has lived her life, with a strong spiritual foundation, unbelievable work ethic, humility and an inclination for community activism, served and continues to be an inspiration to me,” Roberts said.
The arrest is among the latest from federal agencies tasked with enforcing the Trump administration’s ramped-up anti-immigration agenda, with more than 60,000 immigrants currently in federal custody.
Within the first several months of Trump's second presidential term ICE removed nearly 200,000 people from the country.
