After serving less than two years as the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS), Ian Roberts was detained by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for allegedly violating federal immigration laws.
According to Fox News, Roberts is expected to resign his position via a letter addressed to DMPS. Roberts, who was hired in 2023, was not legally authorized to work in the U.S. after 2020, when his employment authorization card expired. During that same year, Roberts faced weapons charges and was given a final removal order in May 2024.
Roberts was also in possession of a loaded firearm at the time of his arrest on September 26, 2025. He was apprehended shortly after fleeing in a vehicle that was later found abandoned in a wooded area.
The Des Moines Register reported that Roberts lied about receiving a doctoral degree from a Maryland university. The source stated:
Roberts has claimed several times that he completed the doctoral degree program at Morgan State…[DMPS] used similar language in a November 2024 article on its website about Roberts’ induction into the Coppin State University athletics hall of fame.
Roberts received multiple degrees from several universities but none of the colleges could confirm the completion of a doctorate.
DMPS school board members voted to put Roberts on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the ICE investigation. It is not yet known whether the district was fully aware of Roberts’ illegal immigrant status or criminal history. Some district officials publicly claimed that they “believed Roberts was a U.S. citizen and that he provided immigration paperwork showing he was eligible to work prior to his hiring,” according to the Register.
This investigation is ongoing.
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