Ice stops the best educator in the largest school district in Iowa

Immigration agents arrested the Superintendent of the largest school district of the US Iowa state, accusing him of exceeding his student visa.

The superintendent of the public schools of the monks, Ian Andre Roberts, was arrested Friday by immigration and the application of customs (ICE) on a fugitive mandate. He also faces an offense of firearms.

The officials say that he is a citizen of Guyana and that his work permit in the United States expired in 2020. Heads of the school district say that they have not been informed of the circumstances of his arrest and called him an integral part of the school community.

This comes in the midst of a broader American repression against immigration, because President Donald Trump seeks to expel all illegal migrants.

It is not known if Mr. Roberts hired a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The files show that he is imprisoned in an immigration detention center near the city of monks.

Ice said in a press release that it had been found “in possession of a loaded handgun, $ 3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife”.

The agency said that he had initially fled the police in a vehicle which had been provided to him by the school district. Later, police found his vehicle abandoned and located it with the help of the Iowa State Patrol.

Mr. Roberts has an existing weapon office from February 2020 and was originally entry in the United States on a student visa in 1999, according to Ice. A federal judge ordered him to be expelled in 2024.

The investigation into the handgun found by officers is given to the alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives office, said ICE, noting that it was illegal for undocumented immigrants in the United States to have firearms.

Before directing the district of around 30,000 Iowa students, he had previously worked as an educator in four other states and had obtained university degrees and universities, including Georgetown and Harvard.

He also contributed for Guyana in athletics at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and participated in the world championships in Japan and Spain, according to NBC News.

A biography on the School District website indicates that “he was born from immigrant parents in Guyana and spent most of his years of training in Brooklyn, NY”. It adds that he “loves hunting”.

Jackie Norris, president of the school board, said on Friday at a press conference that the Council was still trying to determine the facts of his case.

“We do not have all the facts. There are many things we do not know,” she said, according to the register monks’ newspaper.

“However, what we know is that Dr. Roberts is an integral part of our school community since he joined two years ago.”

Local Ice Director Sam Olson said in a statement that arrest “should be alarm clock for our high -work communities that our officers do every day to withdraw public security threats.”

“How this illegal foreigner was hired without a work authorization, a final dismissal order and a charge of previous weapons is beyond understanding and should alarm parents of this school district,” he added.