Ian Roberts was placed on unpaid administrative leave by the Des Moines school board Monday after the district was notified that a state board had revoked Roberts’ school superintendent’s license.

Roberts, 54, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Friday. Roberts, who is being held in the Woodbury County jail, is accused of being in the United States illegally and not complying with an order of removal issued in May 2024.

The day after Roberts’ arrest, the school board met in a special session and voted to place Roberts on paid administrative leave. Monday morning, the board was notified that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners had revoked Roberts’ superintendent’s license. The state board’s action put Roberts out of compliance with his district contract that requires him to have the license, Jackie Norris, Des Moines school board chair, said during the meeting.

Also Monday, the district was notified by the Department of Homeland Security that Roberts was not authorized to work in the United States and received a copy of the removal order issued by the Department of Justice and signed by an immigration judge, Norris said.

The board has asked attorneys representing Roberts to provide clarification about their client’s citizenship status, Norris said. The attorneys were given until noon today to comply with the request. The Parrish Kruidenier law firm in Des Moines is representing Roberts.

“Unless we receive new material information … demonstrating that Dr. Roberts is eligible to work [in the U.S.], our board will commence the process” of terminating the district’s contract with Roberts, Norris said.

Norris reiterated during the board meeting and a news conference following the meeting that the district took all of the necessary steps to ensure that there was nothing in Roberts’ background that would prohibit him from serving as superintendent.

“There was nothing in the information that was given to us to allude to any question about his citizenship,” Norris said.

Roberts was hired as Des Moines’ superintendent in July 2023. During the search process, the district worked with JG Consulting, based in Texas, and Chicago-based Baker-Eubanks to vet candidates for the job.

The state also does extensive background checks before issuing licenses to be an Iowa school administrator, Norris said. Roberts also completed the federal I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation to the district. The documentation included a driver’s license and Social Security card, she said. The documents were reviewed by Dentons Davis Brown, the local law firm with which the district works, Norris said.

“We trust employees to fill out the required forms truthfully and provide valid documentation,” Norris said.

Roberts entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa, according to an ICE news release.

In interviews with the news media, Roberts has said that his parents are immigrants from Guyana, a country on the northeastern coast of South America. Roberts also has said he grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and attended college in the U.S. He was a 2000 Olympian in track and field, representing Guyana and has held several positions in education in the U.S.

Rep. Zach Nunn, an Iowa congressman whose district includes the Des Moines school district, asked the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and ICE for documentation related to Roberts’ immigration status and subsequent arrest and detention.

Nunn learned that many documents related to a person’s immigration status are protected under the Privacy Act of 1974 and can only be released with consent of an individual. Nunn, however, was provided with a copy of the order requiring Roberts to leave the country. The order was dated May 23, 2024.

“This is a final removal order that was issued [to Roberts] after he failed to appear for his immigration hearing,” Nunn told KCCI on Monday. “I want to be clear here: This is something [Roberts] would have known about as early as May 2024 and well before that as he was going through his appeal process.”

Nunn, a Republican, told KCCI that Roberts had numerous opportunities to tell both the district and the state of Iowa about his immigration status, but chose not to do so.

Norris, the school board chair and a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, said during the news conference that the district should have been informed by ICE or Homeland Security that Roberts had been ordered to leave the U.S.

“I think that there’s probably more professional ways that ICE could have handled this issue,” Norris said. “At the same time, we don’t have the information that they do. We don’t know why they chose to [arrest Roberts] when they did. We have to respect that they had a process in place.

“I do think, moving forward, one of the things every employer should be asking themselves is the obligation of the [federal government] to notify the employer when there is an actual issue?”

Nunn told KCCI that he is working on creating legislation related to informing employers about removal and other notices issued by immigration judges.

On Friday, the district announced that Matt Smith had assumed the role of interim superintendent. Smith, a long-time district administrator, previously served as interim superintendent during the 2022-23 school year.

Related article: State revokes Ian Roberts’ superintendent’s license