The vehicle search turned up disturbing items: a loaded handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash. The discovery raised even more red flags about why a sitting superintendent — entrusted with overseeing the education of more than 30,000 Iowa students — was driving around with weapons and stacks of cash while under an active deportation order.
ICE Lowers the Boom
In an official statement, the agency didn’t mince words:
“ICE Des Moines today arrested Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien from Guyana in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife. At the time of his arrest Roberts was working as the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools despite being an illegal alien with a final order of removal and no work authorization.”
BREAKING: A senior ICE official tells @FoxNews that today, ICE arrested the Superintendent of Des Moines, Iowa Public Schools, Dr. Ian Andre Roberts, who ICE says is an illegal alien from Guyana & and active ICE fugitive with a deportation order since May 2024. Fox is told Dr.… pic.twitter.com/623WGDpqZb
Adding to the scandal, ICE revealed Roberts had a prior weapons arrest in 2020. Details on how that case was resolved remain murky.
How Did He Stay in Power?
Roberts’ history in the U.S. stretches back decades. He entered in 1999 on a student visa to attend St. John’s University in New York. Authorities say he overstayed his visa and was later hit with a final order of removal on May 22, 2024, after failing to appear for an immigration hearing.
He tried to fight it. On April 24, 2025, an immigration judge in Dallas rejected his bid to reopen the case. That should have been the end of the story. But Roberts simply ignored the ruling and stayed in Iowa — collecting a taxpayer-funded salary while leading the state’s largest district.
Parents and taxpayers are now demanding to know how the school board allowed this to happen.
District Scrambles for Control
With Roberts behind bars, the district is in damage control mode. Jackie Norris, president of the Des Moines school board, admitted in a Facebook post that the board had little clarity:
“We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps.”
Norris announced that associate superintendent Matt Smith will step in as interim leader while the district figures out its next move.
via ICE
Outrage from Parents and Taxpayers
The revelation has left families furious. The fact that a man with no legal right to live or work in the United States was not only employed, but placed in charge of 30,000 students, is being called one of the most egregious failures of vetting and oversight in recent memory.
For now, Roberts sits in ICE custody as removal proceedings advance. But the larger scandal — how America’s immigration system and public institutions allowed this situation to fester — is only just beginning.
