Illegal immigrant school superintendent in Iowa had ‘extensive criminal history’

Ian Roberts, the illegal immigrant who had been serving as superintendent of Iowa’s largest school system until his arrest on immigration charges, also had an “extensive criminal history,” ICE said, pointing to drug, weapons and reckless driving offenses.

“Roberts’ rap sheet and immigration history reveal a long record of criminal conduct in the United States. He should never have been serving in a role overseeing children in Iowa’s largest school district,” ICE said Friday.

Mr. Roberts was an illegal immigrant and didn’t have legal permission to work in the U.S. as of 2020, but somehow still got hired as the top official by Des Moines Public Schools.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he first entered the U.S. in 1994 on a visitor’s visa and notched a drug arrest in New York in 1996.

He had various comings and goings over the next few decades, as well as additional charges. They included a conviction for reckless driving in Maryland in 2012, weapons charges in 2020, a weapons conviction in 2022, and then his latest incident of being found with a gun when ICE officers arrested him late last month. Possessing a firearm is prohibited for illegal immigrants.

Mr. Roberts was four times rejected for a green card, or permanent legal residency. He was granted a student visa in 2020.

And he was granted three employment authorizations to work, covering as little more than three years of the three decades he was here. The last authorization expired in 2020, or three years before Des Moines hired him.

Des Moines school officials have said they used a third party to conduct a background check and school officials were satisfied enough to hire him.

They also said Mr. Roberts claimed to be a citizen at his hiring, and showed a Social Security card and a driver’s license to satisfy the I-9 form requirements for proving work authorization.

Experts say both of those documents could have been obtained by dint of his previous work authorization and student status, and didn’t actually prove he was eligible to work.

Des Moines schools are not signed up for E-Verify, the federal government’s electronic — but voluntary — system that allows employers to check government databases to determine whether new hires are in fact eligible to work.

The school board on Friday announced it will sue JG Consulting, the firm it used, saying it “failed” in its duty to vet applicants properly.

“Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a finalist,” said board Chairwoman Jackie Norris. “If we knew what we knew now, he would never have been hired.”

The school system said earlier this week that JG Consulting did flag one inaccuracy in Mr. Roberts’ resume, which originally claimed he held a doctorate degree from Morgan State University. The firm flagged that as wrong and his updated resume was marked as ABD, or “all but dissertation,” which is a requirement for the doctorate.

The board had that revised resume when it interviewed Mr. Roberts and was aware he had not obtained the degree.

Ms. Norris said the board felt it was “also a victim of deception” by its superintendent.

Mr. Roberts has also claimed a doctorate from Trident University, a for-profit online school institution that critics have labeled a “degree mill.” The Associated Press said Des Moines schools have confirmed Mr. Roberts did receive that degree.