Lawmakers question Des Moines school officials on Ian Roberts’ hiring, cooperation with ICE

House Education Committee members questioned Des Moines Public Schools officials Wednesday about the hiring of former Superintendent Ian Roberts in light of his immigration arrest.

Republican lawmakers also asked the district officials about their plans to improve citizenship verification measures — and if they plan to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts in the future.

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DMPS School Board chair Kim Martorano and interim Superintendent Matt Smith agreed to answer questions from the committee Wednesday to address Roberts’ arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2025. Following the arrest and detainment, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released documents confirming Roberts was given an order of removal by an immigration judge in May 2024 and had several previous criminal charges.

National political attention has grown on immigration enforcement actions in cities around the country, including in Minnesota and Illinois. Some states are moving to block cooperation agreements with ICE and other federal immigration enforcement agencies with local law enforcement and other entities as concerns about these efforts grow.

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Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, chair of the House Education Committee, asked the school officials, “What is the standard of Des Moines Public Schools when it comes to working with ICE?”

Smith answered that DMPS complies “with all law enforcement.”

“Our policy is that as long as we’ve got proper credentials and we’ve got copies and documents of … judicial warrants and court orders, we will comply,” Smith said.

Smith also told lawmakers DMPS now is registered with E-Verify, a federal system for checking job applicants’ ability to legally work in the country, and that the school district also is in the process of an I-9 audit from the federal government. He said he is not “not aware of anybody that’s unauthorized to work in Des Moines Public Schools,” and said as the school district is in the process of working through an audit with a federal agency, he could not speak about specific efforts to verify the legal status of current DMPS employees.

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“We will continue to operate with the federal government and engage in any requirements that they have of us to make sure that we are compliant,” Smith said.

In the aftermath of Roberts’ arrest, reporting found the Guyana native had falsified parts of the resume and credentials he presented to the Des Moines school board during the hiring process. DMPS officials also have said Roberts completed an I-9 form when hired that included false information, in violation of federal law.

Martorano said school board members were not aware that Roberts was working in the country unlawfully before the ICE arrest.

“Like everyone in this room, we were shocked when we learned that former Superintendent Ian Roberts had been detained on the morning of September 26, 2025,” Martorano said. “Prior to that date, we had no knowledge or indication from the former superintendent, any federal or state agency, or anyone else that his citizenship and eligibility to work were in question.”

She said the school board knew there were many questions about Roberts’ hiring process as more information came out following his arrest, and said the board commissioned Melissa Schilling at the Dickinson, Bradshaw, Fowler & Hagen, P.C., law firm in Des Moines to conduct a “truly independent investigation.”

The DMPS officials provided lawmakers with a copy of the investigation’s findings, which is also publicly available online.

When asked by lawmakers, Martorano answered, “Yes, we do bear some responsibility” for the hiring of Roberts. But DMPS officials have also raised allegations of failed steps in verifying the former superintendent’s identity at multiple other points in the procedure, particularly by JG Consulting, the firm contracted in the search that led to Roberts’ hire.

According to the report commissioned by the board, JG Consulting represented itself as being a “registered agent with E-Verify,” but it is unknown whether E-Verify was used during the firm’s vetting process, or if E-Verify would have identified the issue with Roberts’ employment authorization in 2023.

The school board is suing JG Consulting after more information came to light following Roberts’ arrest. In addition to the board’s claims that JG Consulting’s vetting process failed to catch the issues with Roberts’ immigration and work authorization status, the board said a background check ordered by the school board during the hiring process only flagged a previous Pennsylvania gun citation, but not the other charges or convictions identified by the Department of Homeland Security.

Additionally, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners did not identify an issue with Roberts before granting him an administrator license in July 2023. In the aftermath of Roberts’ arrest, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order requiring the BOEE, alongside all other state government entities, to use E-Verify and the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE, to verify immigration and citizenship status of applicants for state jobs as well as for occupational and professional licenses.

Some GOP lawmakers questioned the reference to diversity, equity and inclusion — often referenced as DEI — in the decision to choose JG Consulting to conduct the search for superintendent. Among the reasons a board subcommittee recommended the firm was its “demonstrated commitment to diversity and equity resulting in the placement of a pool of candidates reflecting gender, racial, and ethnic diversity in districts ranging from 8,100 students to 200,000 students,” according to the investigative report.

Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, questioned if the school board plans to still consider a “commitment to DEI scoring piece” when hiring a firm to consider applicants for open positions. He brought up legislation approved in 2025 that banned local government entities from spending money on the creation or funding of DEI offices and hiring of DEI officers.

“I cannot speak to what the future board will do, and I can assure you that we will fully comply with the law as it is written,” Martorano said.

Democratic Rep. Angelina Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, asked the school officials for information about the school district’s demographics, confirming the focus on diversity in the search was to ensure the district found a candidate that would “adequately represent” the DMPS student population, which has a large percentage of students of color, low-income students and students with disabilities when compared to other school districts in Iowa.

Martorano said the board was focused on finding a superintendent best suited to serve the Des Moines community.

“Each student has very unique needs that we serve, and each district has very unique needs across the state,” she said. “So we were looking specifically for a candidate that would be able to improve outcomes for the specific population that we serve.”

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.