This is a developing story and will be updated.
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The Des Moines School Board accepted Superintendent Ian Roberts’ resignation in a special session Tuesday night. The unanimous decision comes less than a week after Roberts was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and hours after his attorney presented Roberts' resignation letter.
The board voted Monday to place Roberts on unpaid administrative leave, following the State Board of Educational Examiners revoking his educational license on Sunday.
Attorney for Roberts presents resignation letter and more details
Alfredo Parrish, the lead attorney representing Roberts, provided a resignation letter he wrote to the Des Moines School Board. It reads:
“Dr. Roberts has authorized me to send this letter announcing his immediate resignation from his position as superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools. Out of concern for his 30,000 students, Dr. Roberts does not want to distract the board, educators and staff from focusing on educating DMPS’s students.”
Parrish also said he will file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case, in addition to a motion filed Monday to stay Roberts’ deportation. He suggested his arguments will include that Roberts thought his immigration case had been resolved earlier this year, and that Roberts is an asset to the community.
“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loved, and the students who love him back and his staff,” Parrish said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Roberts to enforce a final removal order from May 2024. Roberts is a native of Guyana, but on an I-9 employment eligibility form he indicated that he was a U.S. citizen, according to DMPS. The school district said Roberts provided a driver’s license and Social Security card as documentation.
DMPS said Monday it received a copy of Roberts' removal order from the Department of Justice, as well as notification from the Department of Homeland Security that Roberts does not have work authorization.
When asked if Roberts was authorized to work in the U.S. when he started working for DMPS in 2023, Parrish said he is still “digging through” those questions and does not yet have access to Roberts’ full immigration case file.
But Parrish provided a letter he said was from Roberts’ prior Texas-based immigration attorney telling Roberts “his case had been closed successfully, and he was under the impression that it had been.”
The letter from Jackeline Gonzalez to Ian Andre Roberts dated March 27, 2025, states:
“I am writing to inform you of the closure of your immigration case. It has been my pleasure to represent you throughout this process, and I am pleased to report that your case has reached a successful resolution.”
IPR News left a message seeking comment with Gonzalez’s office Tuesday afternoon.
Parrish said he is also “trying to get to the bottom of” whether Roberts participated in immigration proceedings surrounding his 2024 deportation order and how Roberts was notified of that order. He would not say if Roberts has ever applied for a Green Card or citizenship.
Parrish said Roberts was born in Guyana in December 1970, but would not say when and how Roberts first came to the U.S. from Guyana.
Parrish said he did not want to respond to questions about reports that Roberts identified himself as a U.S. citizen on hiring forms. Roberts provided a driver’s license and a Social Security card to verify his employment eligibility, according to DMPS.
“Certain people coming into this country are entitled to get a Social Security number,” Parrish said. “We thoroughly checked that out. That’s not our concern at the moment.”
ICE said agents found a loaded gun in Roberts’ DMPS-owned vehicle when he was arrested. Parrish did not directly address ICE’s allegation, but he said Roberts was in the military in Guyana, where he led raids “on the biggest criminals in Guyana.”
“And doing that type of work, he was a target on some occasions to be taken out by the cartel,” he said. “And so we don’t know where that goes, but I think perhaps the government knows that.”
Parrish also did not want to provide details about a raid on Friday night of Roberts’ home by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He said he’s seeking more information about ICE’s allegation of a previous weapons charge from February 2020.
Overall, Parrish said this is a complex case and people should be patient as his team takes things one step at a time. He said Roberts has been a “tremendous asset” and an inspiration to the community as the first Black superintendent of the Des Moines school district.
“It’s the first time we’ve had someone, in my opinion, as qualified to reach out to the students as Dr. Roberts,” Parrish said. “The thing that has amazed me, quite frankly, are the calls from other jurisdictions who said this man changed the way we looked at education, and so we’re going to work our hearts out for him.”
Roberts' education background and credentials
Questions about Roberts’ immigration history have raised concerns about his background and credentials.
Roberts has an extensive educational history, according to professional bios and his LinkedIn profile, including attending seven universities. The years spent at each university are included on his LinkedIn profile, although the degrees are not listed.
IPR News contacted the seven universities that Roberts listed publicly as attending. Three of those universities responded as of Tuesday afternoon.
A staff member for Morgan State confirmed that Roberts attended from fall 2002 to spring 2007. Roberts was pursuing a doctorate in urban educational leadership. However, the university confirmed that Roberts did not receive a degree or a certificate from Morgan State.
Roberts is frequently called “Dr. Roberts” by DMPS staff members and other members of the community. At the news conference Tuesday, his lawyer said Roberts received a doctorate from Trident University International. Trident University has not responded to emails from IPR News.
Coppin State University in West Baltimore, Md., sent IPR News a statement saying that Roberts graduated in 1998 and was “a standout scholar and athlete during his undergraduate studies.” The university did not specify what degree Roberts earned.
Brian T. Browne, spokesman for St. John's University in New York, said that Roberts received a master’s degree from St. John’s on June 4, 2000. Browne confirmed that Roberts did not receive a doctorate from St. John’s. The master’s degree was a “master of science education/general and special education (grades 7-12).”
Students leave classes in protest
Students walked out of Des Moines high schools throughout the day Tuesday to protest Roberts' detention by ICE officers Friday.
The walkouts started with Des Moines high school students from Central Campus marching up to Terrace Hill, the governor’s mansion.
The crowd stretched for blocks down the street and cars honked as the students walked and chanted things like, “We want justice, not just ice,” and the state motto, “Our liberties we prize, our rights we will maintain.”
Some addressed their peers and spoke out against what they see as ICE violating due process, regardless of citizenship. A student with immigrant parents said they’re terrified their family could be detained at any moment.
More than 100 students at Hoover High School joined the walk-out Tuesday morning. Teachers and school administrators monitored traffic in front of the school as the student protesters walked up and down the block chanting anti-ICE slogans.
Several students in the crowd said they haven’t seen a protest this big since they started attending school. For many, it was their first protest.
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Nicole Grundmeier contributed to this story.
