It Definitely Looks Like I Was Wrong About The Iowa School Superintendent Arrested By ICE

from the but-what-will-ICE-learn-from-this dept

A lot has happened since last week when my post about Des Moines (IA) school superintendent Ian Roberts being arrested by ICE first hit the front page here at Techdirt. A lot of new information has come to light, almost all of it obtained by Des Moines Register journalists, which indicates the arrested man may not have been the man he pretended to be (a legal migrant with only the slightest amount of previous legal troubles).

He very much appeared to be the person others thought he was, though. And while that’s something, it’s certainly not enough to make a bunch of past criminal charges and some discrepancies on his educational history completely irrelevant. Roberts doesn’t appear to be a con artist and actually seems to have been a very well-liked and respected school administrator. But that doesn’t excuse the route he took to get there.

It also doesn’t excuse any of the wrong assumptions I made in my original post. I don’t enjoy being wrong and I don’t go out of my way to make careless mistakes, but sometimes it happens. And for that, I apologize. Readers trust this site to provide them with facts and intelligent analysis. My post didn’t have enough of either.

My assumptions were the problem here. The post itself is linked to several sources and contains a lot of direct quotes from people about Ian Roberts, as well as ICE’s own press release about the arrest. I drew the conclusion that the mugshot released by ICE couldn’t possibly be the same person ICE arrested, but it’s definitely possible that I got that wrong.

I also suggested ICE’s timeline in terms of criminal charges and immigration incidents didn’t line up with the facts. It still seems to be off, but that very well could be because Ian Roberts’ bio (at least as presented to schools he attended, as well as those hiring him in Des Moines) might have some factual holes of its own.

I’ll run down the recent findings by Des Moines journalists so you can weigh that against the assertions and assumptions I made in my post. But I must point out that a lot of this is drawn from the DHS’s release of Roberts’ criminal record, some of which has yet to be independently verified. (I’ll also point out the obvious: this is hardly the sort of rap sheet that should result in someone being called the “worst of the worst” and who should “never have been able to work around children,” as DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claims in the DHS press release.)

• July 3, 1996: Charges for criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of narcotics, criminal possession of a forgery instrument and possession of a forged instrument in New York.
• Nov. 13, 1998: A charge for third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York, which was dismissed July 6, 1999.
• Nov. 1, 2012: A conviction for reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding in Maryland.
• Feb. 3, 2020: Charges for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (having a loaded firearm outside his home or business); third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (an ammunition feeding device); and fourth-degree weapon charges. A document from Feb. 4, 2020, indicates that the second-degree criminal possession charge was inchoate.
• Jan. 20, 2022: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania convicted Roberts of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm.
• Sept. 26, 2025: Roberts was arrested with a Glock 9mm pistol and a fixed-blade hunting knife in his possession. He also had $3,000 in cash.
• Oct. 2, 2025: Roberts criminally charged with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms. 

The last two charges are from his arrest by federal officers last week. The previous charges are a blend of weapons charges and moving violations. “Third degree unauthorized use of a vehicle” is a fancy way of saying “borrowed mom’s car without permission” or “drove a company vehicle home during a lunch break.”

As for the weapons charges, that’s more problematic. Roberts’ bio states he’s an avid hunter, which might explain him having guns in places he wasn’t supposed to, but doesn’t explain how he had any guns in the first place, if he wasn’t legally allowed to have them. But nothing in that list (other than the criminal possession charge that never materialized) suggests it was illegal for him to have them, only that he shouldn’t have had them where he had them and/or the after-market products that made them illegal.

Still, you’d think a screening for a position involving managing schools would have raised more red flags than it did, which is probably why the school district is now suing the third-party that performs employment screenings.

The DHS press release also offers up a list of his movements in and out of the country. But the list doesn’t really say much other than Roberts entered and exited the country frequently, with some of the dates aligning with visa expirations. The list also shows Roberts dutifully applied for some form of legal status when re-entering the US (if the previous authorization had expired), which doesn’t do much for DHS’s narrative that Roberts was not only a gun-carrying threat to public safety but routinely ignored his obligations on the legal residence front. In fact, it states the opposite. When he was arrested (and this is based on DHS’s unverified assertions), he had most likely only been in the country illegally since April 24 of this year.

So, while he’s not the choirboy I may have presented him as, he’s definitely not the sort of dangerous criminal ICE should be focused on. He has, in fact, obtained multiple degrees. He was respected and liked while he was still a school superintendent. He was a former Olympic athlete who appeared to have found something he could do well and — even given the list provided by the DHS — had not been in any serious (or unserious) legal trouble for the past five years.

That being said, I’m not here to let myself off the hook. With ICE doing what it’s doing day after day, it’s extremely easy to assume the worst and just run with it. Obviously, not every arrest ICE performs is unjustified. And the government will still round up some people who truly deserve to be arrested and deported due to their criminal activity.

But, at this point, truly justified arrests by ICE are just the result of it spamming so-called “enforcement efforts” that are the ultimate example of biased policing. Arrest enough people of any race, color, or creed and you’re bound to end up catching the occasional “worst of the worst.” But that’s not how America is supposed to work. The government is supposed to restrain itself, respect rights, and perform careful investigations. This government does none of that.

Instead, this administration has shrugged off — if not outright rejected — the guiding principles of governance. On a daily basis, it steamrolls rights, ignores court orders, arrests people en masse just because they’re the wrong race, and is doing this not just for the immediate effect, but to ensure it has burned the Republic to the ground and salted the earth before Trump exits office… something that’s definitely not guaranteed. ICE has been unleashed and encouraged to be the worst it can be. And now that it’s done that, it’s being showered with billions in tax dollars and exempted from the government shutdown the administration is using as an excuse to fire any government employees DOGE didn’t get around to shitcanning prior to Elon Musk exiting the administration and promising to start his own bigoted political party.

ICE doesn’t get let off the hook just because I decided to give myself a headstart over the facts. And I realize that admitting fault in public just encourages people who argue in bad faith to do so more frequently in the future. The government (and its vocal supporters) will always be the first to find fault in any inadequate or inaccurate reporting and use that to smear an entire vocation. If I get something wrong, I’ll admit it. This administration will never give the public the same respect. When others are wrong, they’re pilloried. When this government is wrong, it chooses to blame everyone else when not choosing to simply double down on its wrongness.

We don’t do that here. We appreciate you giving us your attention and will always strive to earn your respect and loyalty. My apologies for blowing this one. And I will be more careful in the future.

Filed Under: des moines school district, dhs, ian roberts, ice, mass deportation, trump administration