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.”
Ian Roberts in a photo dated February 26, 2025, launched by ICE.
ICE
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.
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.
A photo of what ICE reported as a loaded gun found in the Ian Robert vehicle on September 26, 2025.
ICE
A photo released by Ice of Ian Roberts dated February 2020.
ICE
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.
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
Roberts joined the District of Des Moines in July 2023 and “held educational leadership positions in districts in the United States for 20 years,” said the president of the School Board, Jackie Norris, at a press conference on Friday.
“There is new information that has been made public that we did not know, and we have not been able to verify if that information is precise,” he said.
“There is much we don’t know,” he said. “However, what we do know is that Dr. Roberts has been an integral part of our school community since he joined more than two years ago. During his time with our district, he has appeared in a large and small way, and has advocated students and staff and has begun to present concepts that will help us reimagine education for future generations of students of deso.”
