Tipsheet

The Des Moines Superintendent of Schools, Detained As an Illegal Immigrant, Is Not a 'Victim'

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  September 29, 2025 12:01 PM

In case you've missed this wild story, the superintendent of the public school system in Iowa's capital city has been revealed to be an illegal immigrant with an active deportation order against him. ICE arrested the man late last week, raising predictable hackles from the pro-illegal immigration Left. Fox's Bill Melugin reported on the story, which includes a number of stunning details. The man in question was earning a generous six-figure base salary, and reportedly even enjoyed a pay raise after his deportation order was lodged last year. The recriminations over this controversy will swirl for some time. Here is the information Melugin relayed in his initial reporting:

Fox is told Dr. Roberts fled from ICE agents in his car once they ID’d themselves as immigration agents, speeding away, then abandoning the car. He was found in a brushy area 200 yards away with the help of an Iowa State Police K9. Per ICE official, agents found a loaded gun, a “fixed blade hunting knife”, and $3,000 cash in Dr. Robert’s vehicle. Per senior ICE official, Roberts first entered the U.S. in 1999 on a F-1 student visa at St. John’s University was ordered removed from the United States on May 22, 2024, with proceedings being held in absentia.  On April 24, 2025, an Immigration Judge in Dallas, TX denied a Motion to Reopen his immigration case. Fox is told Dr. Roberts also has a weapons arrest in 2020, though the disposition of that charge/case is currently unclear. More details as they come…(Mugshot is from prior arrest).

Re-read those particulars, and note the "mugshot is from prior arrest" parenthetical, then consider how many on the Left are rushing to this man's defense. Here is one viral example (language warning):


Millions of views and tens of thousands of shares and likes for this garbage. There is nothing shameful about this arrest, whatsoever. This individual was not "almost certainly brought here as a kid," as Melugin's reporting highlights. He first entered the country in 1999, as a college student, then evidently overstayed his visa, which is illegal. He has been illegally present in the United States, knowingly and intentionally so, for years. He fled authorities (another crime) because he was acutely aware of all of this. It's likely why he also had weapons stashed in his car, in addition to thousands of dollars in cash in his car. He has most certainly not "done everything right," including his decision to remain in American illegally, as well as his weapons arrest half a decade ago. He was ordered removed by a federal judge during the Biden administration (he evidently did not show up for this hearing). A follow-up appeal was denied by a separate judge this year.

This is called due process. It has been exhausted. He will now rightly and belatedly be removed from this country. Anyone pretending that this is an abuse, or that he's a victim, is making clear that they do not believe in due process or the rule of law. They sometimes pretend to care about these concepts, when appealing to such things help advance their wider goals, but they have once again exposed themselves as affirmatively pro-illegal immigration activists. They actively support illegal immigrants, including and especially criminal illegal immigrants. Another set of questions that must be answered are how on earth this man attained this lucrative position of prestige and trust in the first place. It very much appears as though he did so through fraud and lying.  He is reportedly registered to vote in the US, despite being an illegal immigrant.  That would point to additional willful fraud.  He also spearheaded an effort to allow ex-convicts to get jobs in his schools: 


The Des Moines school system is going to receive a lot of uncomfortable scrutiny, and rightly so:

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The district may be in desperate damage control and CYA mode. This needs to be fully investigated. Expect this controversy to bleed into next year's midterm elections in Iowa, especially because the chair of the Des Moines school board, a Democrat, is running for the United States Senate. Meanwhile, here is a top Democratic operative weighing in on immigration enforcement:


This tweet comes just days removed from a deadly anti-ICE shooting rampage by a leftist, whose political motives were crystal clear:


ICE agents are not "indiscriminately" harassing people. They have a difficult and perilous job to do, made more dangerous by the explosions of violent attacks against them, some of which is undoubtedly inspired by widely overheated and demonizing rhetoric. Violent assaults on federal officers are not "messy." They are criminal and dangerous. If leftists are going to assault federal officers and assets while they do their jobs, they must be protected. The rule of law is at stake. They cannot feign reverence for due process and the rule of law while supporting illegal immigration and opposing enforcement.