The top campus security story this week is the resignation of Ian Roberts, Iowa’s largest school district superintendent, who was detained by federal immigration authorities on allegations he was living and working in the U.S. without authorization.
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In a “targeted enforcement operation” a week ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Ian Roberts, a 54-year-old native of Guyana, who has led Des Moines Public Schools since 2023.
The fast-moving chain of events raises questions about why ICE agents specifically sought the arrest of Ian Roberts, a public official and the city’s first Black schools superintendent, whom federal officials said had a previously unreported final order of removal issued by an immigration judge on May 29.
Yesterday, he was accused of federal firearm charges for possessing a gun at the time of his arrest.
The Trump administration has already tied Roberts’ detainment to the president’s broader crackdown on affirmative action.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday it would investigate Des Moines Public Schools to determine if it engaged in race-based hiring.
In 2021, the district’s former human resources manager said that out of Des Moines Public Schools’ 4,000 staff members, some 400 were Black. His comments were made as the district reflected on hiring Iowa’s first Black teacher 75 years earlier.
The unraveling of Roberts’ career is also a story of purported deception.
The school board, whose vetting practices have come under scrutiny, released a letter this week saying it is “also a victim,” after Roberts was accused of falsifying records about his immigration status and academic credentials.
Roberts, an Olympic runner for his native Guyana who came to the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa, previously served in leadership roles at school districts in Pennsylvania and Missouri and at a major charter school network.
Get up to speed with this step-by-step explainer by the Des Moines Register.
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