Tag: iowa

Illegal Alien Superintendent Lied About PhD, Loses License, And Earns District A DOJ Investigation Into DEI

Ian Roberts, the Iowa superintendent who was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement last Friday after fleeing from a traffic stop and ditching his district-issued vehicle (in which a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a hunting knife was recovered) – completely lied about his bona fides. 

He’s also lost his superintendent’s license, while the DOJ launched an investigation hours after ICE detained him. The 54-year-old native of Guyana entered the United States on a student visa in 1999, overstayed, lied on a form claiming he was eligible to work when he was hired in 2023, and now faces deportation. 

According to the Des Moines Register, Roberts never obtained a doctoral degree from Maryland university – something which would have been easy to verify during the vetting process. Roberts has “long stated that he received a doctoral degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore. But a university spokesperson told the Des Moines Register on Monday that Roberts did not obtain a degree from the school, despite attending Morgan State from the fall of 2002 through the spring of 2007.”

He attempted to obtain a doctorate in urban educational leadership. Despite his failure, Roberts has claimed on multiple occasions to have “completed” the degree at Morgan State, including in a 2009 self-published book. 

A November 2024 article published on the Des Moines Public School website claimed “Roberts excelled academically and… completed education programs at Coppin, St. John’s, Morgan State, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.”

Meanwhile, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts’ superintendent’s license on Sept. 29. 

What’s more, the Justice Department opened an investigation into the school district hours after Roberts was detained. According to the Washington Examiner, the DOJ wrote to interim superintendent Matthew Smith informing him of the investigation into the district’s alleged DEI programs. 

“Our investigation is based on information that DMPS may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants, and training program participants based on race, color, and national origin in violation of Title VII,” wrote Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. 

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REVEALED: Former Des Moines Iowa Public Schools Superintendent – An Illegal Alien From Guyana – Is a Registered Democrat, Received Mail-in Ballots in Maryland

The former Des Moines, Iowa, Public Schools Superintendent who was illegally living in the US as an ICE fugitive is a registered Democrat and received mail-in ballots in Maryland.

ICE agents last Friday arrested the Superintendent of Des Moines, Iowa, Public Schools – an illegal alien from Guyana with a prior weapons arrest.

According to Fox News, Dr. Ian Andre Roberts was an active ICE fugitive with a deportation order since May 2024. As soon as ICE agents identified themselves, Roberts fled in his car and sped off. He then abandoned his car and fled on foot. Federal agents found him hiding in shrubbery and took him into custody.

Agents found a loaded handgun and a fixed-blade hunting knife in Roberts’ vehicle.

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Why it was easy for an illegal immigrant to land top job in Des Moines’ public schools

The arrest of an illegal immigrant serving as the Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent of schools has exposed a broader problem in America’s public education system: Few of them are using E-Verify, the federal government’s tool to weed out people not authorized to work.

Iowa has revoked the education license of Ian Andre Roberts, the Guyanese immigrant who was helming the state’s largest school system despite his defiance of a deportation order issued more than a year ago.

Late Monday, the school board voted to put him on unpaid leave, and said unless he proves his work status by Tuesday, he’ll be fired.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mr. Roberts on Friday, moving to enforce a final deportation order an immigration judge issued last year. Authorities said Mr. Roberts fled in his Des Moines-issued vehicle, then abandoned it and ran before being tracked down.

When officers later searched his vehicle, they found a handgun, which illegal immigrants cannot possess under the law.

ICE said the case should be a “wake-up call” to communities to better check their hires.

“How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” said Sam Olson, director of the ICE deportation field office that covers Des Moines.

Jackie Norris, chair of the school board, said Mr. Roberts claimed to be a citizen.

She said he presented a driver’s license and Social Security card and filled out Homeland Security’s I-9 form, the paper-based process for verifying someone is eligible to work. She said the school system had no reason to doubt his claims until last week.

But experts said if the school system had used E-Verify, it could have blocked him and avoided the embarrassing black eye.

“Every school district in the United States should be using E-Verify, if simply to protect the children they are responsible for,” said Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project.

E-Verify is voluntary at the federal level, though some states make it mandatory for employers within their borders. A bill to add Iowa to that list cleared the state Senate last year but did not make it through final passage.

Of the more than 10,000 school districts in the U.S., only a few hundred are listed as users of E-Verify in the program’s database, run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A few of those districts are in Iowa, including Storm Lake and the Ballard Community school districts. Des Moines is not among them.

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Des Moines Public Schools Placed Superintendent, an Illegal Alien Fugitive From Guyana, on PAID LEAVE — Board Chair Begs Public to “Cool Down the Rhetoric”: “Enough with the Name Calling… We are Talking About Human Being”

The scandal rocking Des Moines, Iowa, Public Schools has taken an even darker turn after revelations that Superintendent Dr. Ian Andre Roberts, an illegal alien fugitive from Guyana with a deportation order, was placed on paid leave following his dramatic arrest by ICE agents.

ICE agents on Friday arrested Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ian Andre Roberts, an illegal alien fugitive from Guyana who had been living under a deportation order since May 2024.

According to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, Roberts fled from ICE agents in his car once they identified themselves, speeding away before abandoning the vehicle and attempting to escape on foot. He was ultimately found hiding in shrubbery with the assistance of an Iowa State Police K9.

Inside his vehicle, agents recovered a loaded Glock 19 handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash. Roberts reportedly has a prior weapons arrest dating back to 2020.

Despite this, Roberts was hired as Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in July 2023, after a national search process involving an outside firm.

He was granted a superintendent license by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners in the same year, with an FBI criminal background check that somehow failed to flag his immigration issues.

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Democrats Rage, Leftist NGO Mobilizes After ICE Arrest Of Iowa’s Top School Superintendent

Democrats expressed “national outrage” after the ICE arrest of Ian Roberts, an illegal alien from Guyana who somehow became the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, the largest school district in Iowa. Roberts competed as an Olympic athlete and distance runner for Guyana 25 years ago, but this apparently didn’t help him escape immigration enforcement and his active warrants.

At the time of his arrest, Roberts was working as the Superintendent despite being an illegal alien with a final order of removal and no work authorization. He was caught with a firearm in his possession (which is illegal to carry for a non-citizen), as well as a hunting knife and $3000 cash. Roberts had previous warrants for weapons possession charges in February of 2020.  

Democrats claim that these ICE arrests and Trump’s deportation policies are directly to blame for the now numerous shootings committed by leftist activists. In other words, conservatives who are enforcing constitutional immigration laws are to blame when leftists try to kill them.

During a targeted enforcement operation on Sept. 26, 2025, officers approached Roberts in his vehicle after identifying himself, but he sped away. Officers later discovered his vehicle abandoned near a wooded area. State Patrol assisted in locating the subject and he was taken into ICE custody.

“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” said ICE ERO St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson. “This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district.”

The arrest spurred a protest outside the federal courthouse in Des Moines.

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The Details Surrounding ICE’s Arrest of Iowa School Superintendent Are Shocking

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien from Guyana, on Thursday. 

Roberts, head of the largest public school district in the state, was in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed blade hunting knife at the time of his arrest, according to a statement from ICE. 

He entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa and in May of 2024, was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge. He also had existing weapon possession charges from 2020. 

Authorities approached Roberts during a targeted enforcement operation, but he fled in his vehicle, which was later found near a wooded area, ICE said. Iowa State Patrol assisted in locating Roberts. 

“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” said ICE ERO St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson in a statement. “This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district.”

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Michelle Obama’s Ex-Chief of Staff Hired Illegal CRIMINAL to Run A School District

In 2023, the Des Moines School Board appointed Ian Andre Roberts as Superintendent of Schools, handing him one of the most lucrative contracts in Iowa public education. 

His base salary started at $270,000. That alone should raise eyebrows in a state where teachers regularly earn less than $50,000 a year. 

But what makes this case even more alarming is the fact that Roberts was an illegal immigrant with a criminal record when he was hired.

Roberts entered the United States legally but overstayed his visa. 

By May 2024, he had received a final deportation order, yet he remained in charge of the entire Des Moines Public School District. 

Worse still, when the board voted to hire him, they were already aware that Roberts had faced a weapons charge in 2020. 

Despite these red flags, the school board proceeded with the appointment, prioritizing political connections and appearances over community safety and integrity.

The arrangement was not only reckless—it was expensive. According to the Des Moines Register, Roberts’ contract went far beyond a six-figure base salary. 

Taxpayers were also on the hook for a payment to a “tax-sheltered annuity” equal to 14% of his annual pay. That comes out to nearly $38,000 per year. 

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School District Superintendent Raked in MILLIONS Before ICE Arrest

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts after allegedly fleeing when agents arrived to enforce a deportation order. 

Roberts, originally from Guyana, has been under a final deportation order since May 2024. Despite that order, he continued to lead Iowa’s largest school district until his arrest this week.

What makes this case even more alarming is not only that Roberts remained in office unlawfully, but that he was paid handsomely for doing so. 

His current base salary exceeded $180,000 per year, and district officials were preparing to raise his base pay to $270,000. Over the course of his tenure, that means Roberts could have earned millions of dollars in taxpayer money while residing in the country illegally.

The district released a short statement claiming they had “no information” about the circumstances of his arrest. That explanation does not change the facts. 

Federal records make clear that Roberts was under orders of removal. Yet the school board allowed him to remain in charge, responsible for nearly 30,000 students and one of the state’s largest budgets.

This is not the first controversy involving Roberts. He was previously detained in connection with carrying a firearm, though authorities never provided full details. That earlier incident was first noted in reports months ago, but new information about his contract and salary has raised the level of concern. 

Parents and taxpayers now have to ask: how was an individual under deportation orders allowed not only to keep his job but to receive a six-figure salary funded by public money?

The political response has been predictable. Protests are already being organized to defend Roberts, portraying him as the victim rather than the perpetrator. That narrative ignores a basic truth. 

A superintendent facing deportation should not be rewarded with a salary approaching $200,000, nor should a school board prepare to give him an even larger raise.

Families deserve better than a system that treats lawbreaking as a minor administrative detail.

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Marijuana Users In Iowa Are Engaged And Active Citizens, Survey Shows—Smashing ‘Lazy Stoner’ Stereotypes

For many years, cannabis users were characterized as a cult of stoners: young, often unemployed, party animals. That sector still exists in some form, however, many of today’s cannabis consumers are “middle American” adults, employed, own a home, vote regularly, pay their taxes and are involved in their communities.

That is the general profile of adult cannabis consumers across the country and in Des Moines, according to a recent survey by Consumer Research Around Cannabis/The Media Audit.

The Media Audit, the parent company of Consumer Research Around Cannabis, is an international research company serving 80+ local markets in the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. It started gathering data about cannabis use and attitudes in 2016.

Although the sale of adult recreational cannabis is illegal in Iowa, the survey found 16.2 percent of all adults age 18+ in Des Moines said they used or bought cannabis during the past month, or the statistical equivalent of approximately 140,000 adults.

The smallest percentage in the following table, monthly usage in Des Moines, is still substantial—and suggests a pent-up market. Unleashing the recreational cannabis market in Des Moines and all of Iowa would likely generate jobs and significant taxes for the state—money now escaping across the borders.

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Iowa Lawmaker Supporting Medical Psilocybin Bashes Bill That Would’ve Legalized Only A Synthetic Version Of The Psychedelic

An Iowa lawmaker who pushed for the passage of a bill to create a state program allowing the medicinal use of psilocybin said Gov. Kim Reynolds’s (R) decision to veto a bill pertaining to the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms was a “great decision.”

Rep. Jeff Shipley (R-Fairfield) said rather than focus on rescheduling a synthetic version of the drug, the state should instead prioritize creating a state program legalizing the psychiatric use of naturally occurring psilocybin.

House File 383 would have allowed for the prescription and distribution of synthetic psilocybin immediately following federal approval of the drug, and mirrored a similar bill, which was signed into law, in Colorado.

The bill dealt with crystalline polymorph psilocybin, a compound commonly known as COMP360, which is a treatment developed by the biotechnology company Compass Pathways to help patients with treatment of resistant depression, post traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa.

Shipley said he “condemns Compass Pathways” for its approach at creating, and patenting, a synthetic version of the “natural psilocybin that God has given us that everyone knows and loves.”

Compass Pathways declined to comment on the veto of the bill, which it lobbied in support of, and on Shipley’s comment.

Shipley’s emailed statement also apologized for his vote in favor of the bill, which passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.

“The proper legal framework is to reschedule psilocybin to schedule IV or III, and allow the relevant state regulatory boards to make it available as medicine,” Shipley said.

Reynolds, in her explanation of the veto, similarly said the state should have time to review any federal action on the synthetic version of the drug before it legalizes it at the state level.

Shipley was a vocal supporter of House File 978, which would have legalized the use of psilocybin for psychiatric treatment through a state program. The proposed program would have operated similarly to the state’s medical cannabis program.

The bill passed the House with an overwhelming majority in late April, but was not taken up by the Senate.

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