The public school system in Des Moines remained in upheaval on Monday as district leaders struggled to respond to the detention of their superintendent, Ian Roberts, and accusations by federal law enforcement that he had been living and working in the country illegally.
During a hastily scheduled meeting on Monday evening, school board members voted 6-0 to place Dr. Roberts on unpaid leave, a day after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked his state license. Dr. Roberts, who was placed on paid leave on Saturday, is being held in a jail nearly 200 miles away.
All of it left residents of Iowa’s capital city confused, concerned and unsure how to square their impressions of Dr. Roberts, whose vision for the school district was embraced by many, with claims by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he had faced a deportation order since last year and had fled from officers when they approached him on Friday.
“Two things can be true at the same time — Dr. Roberts was an effective and well-respected leader, and there are serious questions related to his citizenship and ability to legally perform his duties as superintendent,” Jackie Norris, the school board chair who is also a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a statement before the meeting.
Ms. Norris said during the meeting that the district was formally notified by federal officials on Monday that Dr. Roberts was not authorized to work in the United States, and that the district had received a copy of an order of deportation. She set a noon Tuesday deadline for Dr. Roberts’s lawyer to provide information refuting that information. If he did not, she said the board would begin the process of ending Dr. Roberts’s employment contract.
Alfredo Parrish, a lawyer for Dr. Roberts, said in a brief interview on Monday evening that his client had been cooperating with the school board.
“It’s my thought that they have now thrown away the valuable tool of due process, and did this without any sufficient notice to me or Dr. Roberts, and we believe that’s concerning,” said Mr. Parrish, who declined to address whether his client was authorized to work in this country.
The superintendent’s arrest came against the political backdrop of President Trump’s deportation campaign. Iowa Republicans and federal immigration officials expressed alarm at how someone without legal status might have been able to lead a 30,000-student school district, which is the state’s largest.
Sam Olson, an ICE field office director, described the employment of Dr. Roberts as “beyond comprehension,” and Representative Randy Feenstra, an Iowa Republican, said on social media that Dr. Roberts “should never be near children.”
Still, the rapid turn of events — from celebrating improved marks on a state evaluation earlier this month to seeing their superintendent arrested and watching district leaders strain to answer questions about their vetting process — had left some in Des Moines skeptical of ICE’s assertions.
“It still seems baffling to me how someone could be hired and their status not be legal in that process,” said the Rev. Robyn Bles, who has a child in the district. “The case that is being presented to us doesn’t stand up to the fact that he has been hired and worked in multiple districts and multiple states. So what’s going on in all of those places?”
Over a roughly two-decade education career, Dr. Roberts, who was born in Guyana, had moved from state to state and built a national profile as an administrator. He wrote books, spoke at conferences and supported racial equity programs, sometimes drawing criticism from conservatives.
He also was issued citations by police officers several times, often for speeding or other traffic offenses. While working as a superintendent in Pennsylvania in 2021, a state game warden cited him for having a loaded firearm inside a vehicle, and Dr. Roberts later pleaded guilty. Des Moines officials said they had been aware of that citation when they hired Dr. Roberts but did not find it disqualifying. Dr. Roberts was in possession of a gun and knife when confronted by ICE agents on Friday, officials said.
In the two years since coming to Des Moines, Dr. Roberts had been a highly visible presence, stopping by classrooms regularly and asking voters to approve additional funding for the district. Dr. Roberts, a former Olympic runner for Guyana, was known for sometimes racing with students during his visits to schools. School board members said they had no idea that his immigration or work eligibility status had been in dispute.
Ako Abdul-Samad, a former Democratic state representative from Des Moines, said on Monday before the school board meeting that he was concerned about a rush to judgment against the superintendent amid “a lot of unanswered questions.”
“When there’s an officer shooting, that officer is placed on paid leave until all the facts are in, right?” Mr. Abdul-Samad asked. “We’re asking the same thing. Place him on paid leave until the facts are in.”
In its statement announcing the arrest on Friday, ICE said Dr. Roberts had entered the country on a student visa in 1999 and was ordered to be removed from the country in May 2024. What happened with his immigration status in the intervening quarter-century remained unclear, as did how, if he did not have work authorization, Dr. Roberts had managed to land jobs in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
Des Moines Public Schools officials said Dr. Roberts, whose base salary is about $286,000, had filled out forms at the time of his hiring that were intended to prove that he was allowed to work in the United States. Ms. Norris said Dr. Roberts said on those forms that he was a United States citizen, and that he had provided a driver’s license and Social Security card.
Hamed Aleaziz and Ernesto Londoño contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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