DES MOINES, Iowa — Federal immigration agents apprehended Iowa’s largest school district’s superintendent, leaving the community in shock. He was detained following a traffic stop and a subsequent escape into the woods.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Roberts was residing in the U.S. without legal authorization. A native of Guyana, South America, Roberts was labeled an ICE fugitive due to a final removal order from 2024.

ICE revealed it aimed to detain Roberts by conducting a traffic stop while he drove his school vehicle. Upon his escape, officers found the vehicle abandoned near a wooded area. Roberts was found with aid from Iowa State Patrol and subsequently taken to Woodbury County’s jail, as confirmed by jail and ICE records. His legal representation status remains uncertain.

Phil Roeder, spokesperson for the district, explained that he was scheduled to meet Roberts at a school event but received a text indicating Roberts’ absence. Shortly after, Roeder witnessed Roberts’ detention via a video call.

Roeder informed The Associated Press that there was no prior indication Roberts was unauthorized to be in the country. The district later stated a comprehensive background check on Roberts was done by a third party and an I-9 form, indicating work authorization, had been completed. Officials were unaware of the 2024 removal order.

ICE noted that during Roberts’ arrest, he possessed a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixed-blade hunting knife, reflecting his interests as a gun owner and hunter.

“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,” ICE enforcement and removal operations regional official Sam Olson said in a statement. “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.”

Roberts is an experienced educator

Des Moines school officials said that they were still gathering information about the situation, which they called legally complex. They described Roberts as a dynamic leader who connected with students of all backgrounds.

Jackie Norris, school board president, said Roberts has been an “integral part of our school community” who has “shown up in ways big and small.”

A longtime leader at school districts across the nation, the 54-year-old began his term as superintendent of Des Moines schools in July 2023. In that position, he oversaw a district that serves more than 30,000 students and nearly 5,000 employees. The state board of educational examiners issued Roberts a professional administrator license in 2023, which remains active.

He earned a $270,000 annual base salary, according to his first contract with the district, which was in effect until June 30 this year.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds was made aware Friday morning that Roberts was in custody, according to her spokesperson Mason Mauro. Reynolds was in contact with state and federal authorities.

In a joint statement, the presidents of unions representing teachers and other school employees in Des Moines and across the state said they were shocked by Roberts’ detention. They described his compassion for all students of all backgrounds as “a beacon of light in one of the state’s most diverse school districts.”

Before coming to Iowa, Roberts had previously worked as superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania. The district said in an email they were aware of the reports but declined further comment.

Roberts is the son of immigrant parents from Guyana

A biography for Roberts listed on the district’s website says he was born to immigrant parents from Guyana and spent much of his childhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Coppin State University’s website features an alumni profile of Roberts, who graduated from the school in Baltimore in 1998. In it, Roberts said his father immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, and his mother immigrated in the early 2000s.

ICE said that Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999. The next year, he competed for Guyana in the Olympics in track and field.

Pleaded guilty to a gun infraction

ICE pointed to a prior weapons charge for Roberts but provided no details.

Court records in Pennsylvania show that Roberts pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a minor infraction for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle, and was fined $100 plus court costs. The case stemmed from a citation in Erie County issued the prior month by a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer, who stopped Roberts as he was finishing a day of deer hunting on state lands.

Roberts said at the time he was a longtime licensed hunter and gun owner, and that he left his hunting rifle on the seat of his vehicle in plain view to ensure the officer did not feel threatened during their interaction. He said that he was shocked when the officer cited him for doing so, but that he pleaded guilty to avoid any distraction. He questioned whether his dark skin may have played a role in the case.

“I may not appear to be the ‘type of man’ who would enjoy deer season in Pennsylvania, in fact, I am and have been hunting for more than 20 years,” Roberts wrote on a social media post then.

Roeder said the district was aware of the 2022 charge and it had been addressed early on.

It was the second time in two days that an aggressive action by ICE shocked local officials in Iowa. On Thursday, agents in plain clothes who only identified themselves as “federal agents” tackled a man at a grocery store in downtown Iowa City, pinning him to the floor and handcuffing him as shocked shoppers looked on.

A crowd of people gathered Friday evening outside the federal building in downtown Des Moines to protest Roberts’ detention. People also gathered Friday in Iowa City to protest the detention of the man in Iowa City.

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Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.