ICE arrests prime educator at Iowa’s largest college district

[ad_1] Immigration brokers have arrested the superintendent of the biggest college district within the US state of Iowa, accusing him of overstaying his scholar visa.

Superintendent of Des Moines Public Faculties Ian Andre Roberts was arrested on Friday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a fugitive warrant. He additionally faces a firearms offence.

Officers say he's a citizen of Guyana, and that his allow to work within the US expired in 2020. Faculty district officers say they haven't been instructed the circumstances of his arrest, and have known as him an integral a part of the college group.

It comes amid a wider US crackdown on immigration, as President Donald Trump seeks to deport all unlawful migrants.

It's unclear whether or not Mr Roberts has employed an lawyer to talk on his behalf.

Information present that he's being jailed at an immigration detention centre close to town of Des Moines.

ICE mentioned in a press release that he was discovered "in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in money and a hard and fast blade searching knife".

The company mentioned that he initially fled from police in a car that had been supplied to him by the college district. Officers later discovered his deserted car and positioned him with the assistance of Iowa State Patrol.

Mr Roberts has an present weapons cost from February 2020 and had initially entered the US on a scholar visa in 1999, in accordance with ICE. A federal choose ordered him to be deported in 2024.

The investigation into the handgun discovered by officers is being turned over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ICE mentioned, noting that was unlawful for undocumented immigrants within the US to own firearms.

Earlier than main the district of round 30,000 college students in Iowa, he had beforehand labored as an educator in 4 different states, and earned faculty levels and credit from universities together with Georgetown and Harvard.

He additionally competed for Guyana in observe and discipline on the 2000 Sydney Olympic Video games, and took part in World Championships in Japan and Spain, in accordance with NBC Information.

A biography on the college district's web site says that "he was born to immigrant dad and mom from Guyana, and spent most of his early life in Brooklyn, NY". It provides that he "enjoys searching".

Faculty Board Chair Jackie Norris mentioned at a information convention on Friday that the board was nonetheless attempting to find out the information of his case.

"We do not need all of the information. There may be a lot we have no idea," she mentioned, in accordance with The Des Moines Register newspaper.

"Nevertheless, what we do know is Dr Roberts has been an integral a part of our faculty group since he joined two years in the past."

Native ICE Director Sam Olson mentioned in a press release that the arrest "needs to be a wake-up name for our communities to the nice work that our officers are doing every single day to take away public security threats".

"How this unlawful alien was employed with out work authorisation, a remaining order of elimination, and a previous weapons cost is past comprehension and may alarm the dad and mom of that college district," he added.