In brief
Ian Roberts, the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, was detained by immigration agents on Friday morning. The school board is currently seeking information about the reasons for his detention and the next steps. Roberts, who began his term in July 2023, comes from an immigrant background himself.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal immigration agents have detained the head administrator of Iowa's capital city public schools, the school board said Friday.
Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Friday morning, school board president Jackie Norris said in a statement. A spokesperson for the district stated that they do not have additional information to share at this time.
“We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps,” Norris said in her statement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records indicate that Roberts is currently in custody at a county jail in western Iowa. However, a Pottawattamie County jail employee reported that he is not present in their facility. The jail in Council Bluffs is approximately 130 miles west of Des Moines.
An employee at the ICE office in St. Paul, Minnesota, responsible for operations in Iowa, stated they had no information regarding Roberts’ arrest. Multiple attempts to contact ICE’s national media line went unanswered, along with calls to other regional offices in Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri.
Roberts, 52, began his term as superintendent of Des Moines schools, which cater to 30,000 students, in July 2023. A biography featured on the district's website mentions that he was born to immigrant parents from Guyana and spent much of his childhood in Brooklyn, New York.
Coppin State University’s website includes an alumni profile of Roberts, who graduated in 1998. In the profile, Roberts shared that his father immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, while his mother arrived in the early 2000s.
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