Superintendent loses license and $270K salary after ICE arrest on outstanding removal order

The career of Ian Roberts, the $270,000-a-year leader of Iowa’s largest school district, has seemingly unraveled in a matter of days after federal immigration agents arrested him on an outstanding removal order.

Roberts, who was hired and celebrated as Des Moines Public Schools’ (DMPS) first Black superintendent in 2023, now sits in detention. 

Following Friday’s arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his license and the DMPS Board voted unanimously to move him from paid to unpaid administrative leave. 

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The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts’ license after it determined he misrepresented himself as a U.S. citizen when applying for his administrator’s credential. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Roberts entered the country on a student visa in 1999 but never gained legal status. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal last year. When ICE officers tried to stop his vehicle last Friday, Roberts allegedly fled. 

He was later arrested with a hunting knife and thousands in cash. Roberts was also found with a loaded handgun, which he was barred from possessing under federal law.

The fallout has been swift. 

DMPS leaders said Roberts cleared a third-party background check and filed employment forms with a Social Security card and driver’s license. But they insist they had no idea an immigration judge had ordered his removal.

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Meanwhile, activists are rallying to Roberts’ defense. 

Iowa Public Radio reports crowds have protested outside a federal jail, chanting “No ICE, no fear,” while student walkouts at Des Moines high schools are planned in his honor.

Roberts’ parents are Guyanese, and he competed as a runner under that country’s flag in the 2000 Olympics. 

For now, interim superintendent Matt Smith has been asked to steady the district. Unless Roberts’ legal team can prove otherwise by the board’s deadline, his tenure in Des Moines — and his six-figure salary — is over.