DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officers put the chief of Iowa’s largest college district on administrative depart Saturday, a day after federal immigration brokers arrested him as a result of they stated he was within the nation illegally.
The Des Moines college board voted unanimously to position Superintendent Ian Roberts on paid depart throughout a three-minute-long particular assembly. The board stated Roberts was not accessible to hold out his duties for the 30,000-student district and acknowledged that officers would reassess his standing after getting extra data.
After the assembly, college board president Jackie Norris learn an announcement, saying phrase of Roberts’ arrest Friday made for a “jarring day” however noting that board members nonetheless didn’t have all of the info.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated brokers detained Roberts as a result of he was within the nation illegally, didn’t have authorization to work and was topic to a last removing order issued in 2024. ICE brokers stopped Roberts whereas he was driving a school-issued car, and the company stated he then fled right into a wooded space earlier than being apprehended with assist from Iowa State Patrol officers.
He was held within the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux Metropolis, in northwest Iowa, about 150 miles from Des Moines.
“I wish to be clear, nobody right here was conscious of any citizenship or immigration points that Dr. Roberts might have been going through,” Norris stated. “The accusations ICE had made in opposition to Dr. Roberts are very severe, and we’re taking them very significantly.”
Norris stated Roberts has retained a Des Moines legislation agency to signify him. Lawyer Alfredo Parrish confirmed his agency was representing Roberts however declined to touch upon his case.
Norris additionally repeated that the district had accomplished a background verify on Roberts earlier than he was employed that didn’t point out any issues and that he signed a type affirming he was a U.S. citizen. An organization that aided within the seek for a superintendent in 2023 additionally employed one other agency to conduct “complete felony, credit score and background checks” on Roberts that didn’t point out any citizenship points, Norris stated.
Additionally Saturday, the Iowa Division of Schooling launched an announcement saying Roberts acknowledged he was a U.S. citizen when he utilized for an administrator license. The division stated the Iowa Board of Instructional Examiners performed a felony historical past verify with state and federal authorities earlier than issuing a license.
The division stated it’s reviewing the Des Moines district’s hiring procedures for making certain individuals are approved to work within the U.S.
Roberts had beforehand stated he was born to immigrant mother and father from Guyana and spent a lot of his childhood in Brooklyn, New York. He competed within the 2000 Olympics in observe and area for Guyana.
ICE stated he entered the U.S. on a pupil visa in 1999.
A former senior Guyanese police official on Saturday remembered Roberts as a middle-distance runner who might have risen via the ranks of the South American nation’s police power had he not emigrated to the U.S. many years in the past. Retired assistant Guyana Police Power commissioner Paul Slowe stated Roberts entered the Police Power after graduating from the nation’s normal army officers’ course.
“He served for a number of years after which left. He was not dismissed or dishonorably discharged in any respect; he simply moved on,” Slowe informed The Related Press. “He was a very good, promising and disciplined man.”
Related Press author Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report.