Immigration agents have arrested the superintendent of the largest school district in the US state of Iowa, accusing him of overstaying his student visa.
Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools Ian Andre Roberts was arrested on Friday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a fugitive warrant. He also faces a firearms offence.
Officials say he is a citizen of Guyana, and that his permit to work in the US expired in 2020. School district officials say they have not been told the circumstances of his arrest, and have called him an integral part of the school community.
This incident comes amid a wider US crackdown on immigration, as President Donald Trump seeks to deport all illegal migrants.
It is unclear whether Mr. Roberts has hired an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Records show that he is being jailed at an immigration detention center near the city of Des Moines.
ICE stated that he was found in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife. He initially fled from police in a district-provided vehicle, which was later found abandoned.
Mr. Roberts has a prior weapons charge from February 2020 and had entered the US on a student visa in 1999, with a federal judge ordering his deportation in 2024.
The investigation into the handgun found is now being handled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Possession of firearms by undocumented immigrants is illegal in the US.
Before leading the district of around 30,000 students, Mr. Roberts had worked in four other states and earned degrees from universities such as Georgetown and Harvard. He also represented Guyana in track and field at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
A biography from the school district mentions that Roberts was born to immigrant parents and spent his formative years in Brooklyn, NY. The chair of the School Board, Jackie Norris, stated they were still trying to ascertain the facts surrounding his case, emphasizing his significance to the community.
Local ICE Director Sam Olson described Roberts' arrest as a necessary action to remove public safety threats, stressing disbelief over how he was employed without proper authorization.