Immigration officers detained the superintendent of the Des Moines public schools district, Ian Roberts, the morning of Sept. 26, according to district officials.
“We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps,” said Jackie Norris, the school board president, in a statement.
In an afternoon press conference, Norris said that Roberts has held educational leadership positions in districts across the United States for 20 years. She added that the Iowa board of educational examiners issued Roberts a license to serve as superintendent in the state of Iowa in July 2023.
District officials said that due to legal restraints, they would not take any questions at the press conference.
Immigration Customs and Enforcement said in a statement that Roberts was allegedly in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed-blade hunting knife. Agency officials said that Roberts allegedly was in the country illegally with a final order of removal and no work authorization, and that he was detained during a targeted enforcement operation in Des Moines.
At the school district press conference, Norris said that “there is new information that has been made public that we did not know, and we have not been able to verify as to whether that information is accurate.”
While Roberts appeared in the ICE detainee locator early Friday afternoon as being held at the Pottawattamie County Jail in western Iowa, he no longer appeared in the locator as of Friday at 5 p.m. ET.
Roberts was hired to lead Iowa’s largest school district in 2023.
Prior to his position in Des Moines, Roberts was the superintendent of Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania, and before that, led the St. Louis Public Schools High School Network, according to his LinkedIn page.
Roberts is the first person of color to lead Des Moines schools, according to the Des Moines Register.
The Des Moines district enrolls more than 30,000 students across more than 60 schools. More than 100 languages or dialects are spoken throughout the district, the district’s spokesperson has previously told Education Week.
The Des Moines district board said in a statement that Matt Smith, an associate superintendent, will serve as interim superintendent effective immediately.
The School Administrators of Iowa, SAI, said it is aware of Roberts’ arrest.
“We want to assure the community that we are already in contact with Associate Superintendent Matt Smith, who has stepped into the role of interim superintendent, to offer our support,” the statement said. “In this moment of uncertainty, SAI is committed to providing the DMPS leadership with the practical and emotional support they need. While the facts are still emerging, our priority is to be a stabilizing resource and assist the district as the situation unfolds.”
Though a Vermont superintendent was detained at an airport by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for 5 hours in July, there haven’t been cases of superintendents arrested by ICE within the last 5 years, according to an EdWeek analysis of local news reports.
