How did the school district in the capital of Iowa acquire an illegal alien from Guyana as their superintendent?
Jackie Norris is the chair of the Des Moines School Board. Norris used to be the White House Chief of Staff for First Lady Michelle Obama.
The illegal immigrant story is getting press coverage, but there won’t be much discussion of how this came to be. The school district may scrub Norris’s background from their website, so here is an image of the page.
ICE makes a clear case that Ian Andre Roberts was and is a dangerous criminal.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Today, ICE Des Moines arrested Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien from Guyana in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife. At the time of his arrest, Roberts was working as the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools despite being an illegal alien with a final order of removal and no work authorization.
To sum it up:
- Roberts had a weapons possession charge from 2020.
- Roberts had a final order of removal in May, 2024 under the Biden administration.
- Roberts was approached by ICE on September 26, 2025, and he sped away.
- Roberts abandoned his car in the woods, and fled on foot.
- Roberts was found with $3000, a loaded Glock 19 and a hunting knife.
Overlook the recent shootings of ICE agents. Roberts had encountered ICE agents, fled and was attempting to evade them. Roberts brought a loaded Glock 19, indicating that he considered the possibility of fighting his way out of the next ICE engagement. We don’t know if he would have killed federal agents, but he retained that as an option.
The Left will strongly resist the detention of Roberts. We know this because the incident is already getting media coverage and Leftists have strongly resisted the detention of wife-beating gangsters.
Ian Andre Roberts is easy to understand. Guyana looks like a lovely country, but he came to the US on a student visa, and determined that a country with opportunity is more valuable that natural beauty. To be clear, Roberts is responsible, should be punished for his crimes and repatriated to Guyana. The weather and culture in El Salvador is familiar to Roberts, so he should fit in at CECOT.
The Left will laud Roberts as a celebrated school administrator dedicated to education and his students. The Des Moines Independent Community School District is not impressive.
His district only stands out for it’s diversity.
Those students absolutely deserve effective schools. A superintendent must be found who can do a better job.
The chair of the school board, Jackie Norris, was informative.
At a news conference Friday afternoon, Des Moines School Board Chairwoman Jackie Norris said she was not aware of information that came to light about Roberts on Friday. She said the district hired Roberts in 2023, when he was also granted a state license to serve as a superintendent by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.
Public school teachers in Ohio are finger-printed for an FBI background check every five years. I have had it done at least a half-dozen times. A frequent question from prospective teachers on education forums, is how an expunged juvenile conviction or minor misdemeanor will effect their ability to get a teaching license or job.
A district spokesman did say,
Roberts disclosed a firearm charge related to a hunting rifle during the hiring process, Roeder said, and he “provided sufficient context and explanation of the situation to move forward in the hiring process.”
In response to ICE’s allegation that a loaded gun was found in Roberts’ district-owned vehicle, Roeder said DMPS policy states “weapons are prohibited on school grounds or at a school sponsored or school related activity.”
So far, the Des Moines school district seems to have their shit together. They are covering their asses, but that’s to be expected. They are not blaming ICE or making this a race issue. They say that Roberts was doing a good job, but that his immigration status is new information to them.
The Iowa governor, Republican Kim Reynolds, is steady.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Gov. Kim Reynolds is aware Roberts was taken into custody and is in contact with state and federal authorities. Roberts has worked closely with state education officials on school improvement initiatives.
Community activists are wetting the bed.
- They chanted “Free Dr. Roberts” and “No justice, no peace.”
- “Evan if Roberts did violate laws, involving ICE isn’t the way to handle the situation. He said Roberts contributed to many different communities.”
- “Regardless of what might’ve been the circumstances of how he first came here or where he was born, he is one of us,”
- “In her experience, the district has always been thorough in its background checks.”
- “I want this community, this state, this nation, to think about what this does to our children when they are seeing the leadership of their communities, of their school systems, being taken off the street and incarcerated.”
- “It’s very hard right now to try to explain things to my 9 and 6 year old, especially to my 9 year old, because at some point she’s going to make that connection that if this can happen to Dr. Roberts, this can happen to her mom, who was not born here.”
- “Roberts a devout public servant and leader who was dedicated to serving children.”
- “Just knowing him personally, it’s such a shame to see those headlines, especially from other pundits or ICE official statements and with regards to what he might have been or whatnot have been doing. And it’s very disheartening to see that it’s come home close here at Des Moines, Iowa.”
- “As ICE continues to terrorize our communities and disappear our community members, this latest escalation highlights the need for communities to stand together and defend against ICE attacks.”
Everything they are saying is either untrue, irrelevant or intended to inflame.
Dr. Ian Roberts may have been a great hire, and gone on to turn around the mediocre district. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners didn’t do their jobs or Roberts may have engaged in some type of fraud to cover his immigration status.
Dr. Roberts is not coming back. Fleeing ICE while armed cannot be overlooked. Having a firearm in a school district car and possibly on district property, is unforgivable.
The only chance that Roberts had was to repatriate to Guyana while a US immigration lawyer pressed his case. A Republican governor, politically connected school board chairman and community support could have encouraged rapid resolution by the immigration courts.
On President Trump’s first day in office, he announced that illegal immigrants would be offered financial incentives and the potential for a legal return to the US if they voluntarily returned to their home country. That was a generous offer that he did not have to make.
There was risk, but Roberts originally came to the US under a legal visa. He is educated, amiable, and a former Olympic athlete. It’s likely that President Trump would have made Roberts the poster child for the right way to do it. When Trump comments on this situation, that should be his emphasis.
A district superintendent and school board chair get to know each other. There is no reason to think that Jackie Norris knew that Roberts was an illegal alien, but she had been Michelle Obama’s Chief of Staff. Norris would radiate a “Trump is Hitler” vibe, and nobody is going to trust Hitler.
Roberts was a casualty of bad vibes from the Left. It’s a shame.
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