Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts, who was recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), resigned from his post on Tuesday.  

Roberts’s attorneys announced the development in a press conference where lead lawyer Alfredo Parrish call the situation a “very complex case.” 

Roberts, a citizen of Guyana who came to the U.S. in 1999, was arrested by ICE last week after he allegedly violated a removal order from a judge back in May 2024.  

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security said Roberts had a previous weapons charge from 2020 and that when he was arrested, he attempted to evade authorities. When he was caught, Roberts allegedly had a loaded handgun, a knife and $3,000 in cash in his car.  

The school district contends Roberts’s background check showed he was a U.S. citizen. It originally suspended him with pay on Saturday but changed it to without pay on Monday night after Iowa removed his license to be a superintendent.  

“Out of concern for his 30,000 students, Dr. Roberts does not want to distract the Board, educators, and staff from focusing on educating DMPS’s students,” his resignation letter said. 

Roberts’s lawyers are looking to file a motion to reopen his case but did not offer more detailed comments.  

In addition to the resignation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into the school district and its employment practices, one of several such probes opened under President Trump.

The DOJ pointed to concerns on the school’s site about specific quotas for teachers of color, among other things.  

“DEI initiatives and race-based hiring preferences in our schools violate federal anti-discrimination laws and undermine educational priorities,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “School districts must cease these unlawful programs and restore merit-based employment practices for the benefit of both students and employees.”