Former DMV Principal, Olympian Arrested By ICE: Reports

DES MOINES, IA — A former principal in Baltimore City and Washington, D.C., was arrested by immigration officers on Friday, reports said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Ian Andre Roberts, the current superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa, into custody during a targeted operation.

Roberts was also a track star at Coppin State University who went on to run in the Olympics. George Washington University named Roberts "Principal of the Year" in 2013, WJLA reported.

ICE described Roberts as "a criminal illegal alien from Guyana in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife." He had "a final order of removal and no work authorization," ICE said.

Roberts has described himself as a longtime gun owner and hunter, the Associated Press reported. It is against federal law for those in the U.S. without legal status to possess a firearm and ammunition, ICE said.

A profile on Coppin State's website said Roberts graduated from the Baltimore college in 1998, majoring in criminology and running track. He represented Guyana in the 2000 Olympics, running in the 800-meter race.

In the Coppin State profile, he called Guyana his birthplace. He said his father immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s, and his mother immigrated in the early 2000s.

A LinkedIn account bearing Roberts' name says he worked in Baltimore City Public Schools for nine years. He started teaching in Baltimore in 2001 and served as a middle and high school principal from 2007 to 2010, the page says.

Roberts was then a principal for the District of Columbia Public Schools from 2010 to 2014, the profile says.

The specific schools where he worked are not listed.

ICE said Roberts "entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May of 2024."

ICE said they approached Roberts in his vehicle on Friday, but he sped away. Officers said they later found his vehicle abandoned near a wooded area.

Iowa State Patrol assisted in searching for Roberts, and he was taken into ICE custody, the immigration agency said.

"This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement," ICE ERO St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said in a press release. "This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district."

The Des Moines school board voted unanimously Saturday to place Roberts on paid administrative leave, the Associated Press reported.

Roberts said he was a U.S. citizen when he applied for an administrator license, the Iowa Department of Education stated, according to the AP.

"There were no red flags. This is an individual that has worked in multiple states, that has served on boards, that has been a superintendent before," Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris told KCCI Close Up Sunday. "We followed all of the steps in the process, and now I think we have to wait for the facts."