Adam Shriver is a concerned resident of Des Moines.
Laura Belin’s been doing an awesome job keeping track of the situation with Dr. Ian Andre Roberts, the former Des Moines Public Schools superintendent who was detained by ICE on September 26 and resigned four days later.
I’ve been seeing a lot of misinformation floating around on right-wing spaces about this, so I thought I’d note a few that need to be corrected.
Former Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf shared multiple false and/or misleading points during a recent Fox News appearance.
Wolf claimed the Des Moines Public Sschools “clearly did not do any background check.”
Actually, as had been widely reported well before Wolf’s comments, the school district does background checks on all potential employees. In the case of Dr. Roberts a third party, Baker-Eubanks, conducted a background check.
Wolf also claimed Dr. Roberts had no work authorization when he was hired.
Even according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement timeline (and we have to note that ICE has a recent history of being misleading if not dishonest), the “final order to deport” came in 2024. However, Dr. Roberts “affirmed to the district he was a U.S. citizen who was eligible to work in the district when he was hired in 2023.”
More recent reporting also noted that it wasn’t until April 2025 that a judge in Dallas opted not to reopen Roberts’ case. But Dr. Roberts was hired in 2023. As far as I’ve seen, there’s no mechanism for employers to find out if someone who previously was cleared is now ineligible, aside from the pre-scheduled periodic checks on employment status that occur every few years. So there’s no reason to think that the school district had any knowledge of this situation during or after the time Dr. Roberts was hired.
Wolf also claimed that Dr. Roberts “had a criminal record” when he was hired as evidence for his claim that no fact check was done. But as the Associated Press reported, the district knew that in 2022, he had pleaded guilty “to a minor infraction for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle.” That charge stemmed from incident where he placed a hunting rifle in his car when pulled over by a game warden. The school district found his explanation plausible (as I would have, given his impressive career and public standing).
At least a couple of other false allegations are flying around.
Some Republicans have said “former Michelle Obama Chief of Staff Jackie Norris” hand-picked Roberts” as superintendent. First, Norris became the school board president in January 2024, so she was not leading the board when Dr. Roberts was hired in 2023. And second, as with any district, there’s a whole hiring process in place. The board president does not have sole discretion to hire whomever they want.
Republicans have accused Norris of calling for “radical empathy” for Dr. Roberts. That is incorrect. Her statement was more general, saying that we need to have empathy in this situation.
Here’s the full quote:
(I)t seems fitting to take a page out of Dr. Roberts’ book and ask the community to engage in radical empathy as we work through the situation together,” Norris said. “Radical empathy is the recognition that we can disagree and still empathize with each other, the respect of others, humanity. This concept will be essential as we wait to learn more.
Does it sound sympathetic to Dr. Roberts? Sure, since she’s quoting a concept he developed. But given that many students and members of the greater Des Moines Public Schools community have been traumatized by these developments, it makes sense to call on others to show empathy for the many affected people.
These points are just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been seeing folks online point to some global conspiracy to hire more criminals (of course with Michelle Obama’s support), and also claims that Dr. Roberts has committed violent crimes.
But I thought this could be a good start to catching some of the false claims that are being used to distract from how dystopian it is for ICE to be bragging about detaining a high-profile leader in the Des Moines community.
23 Comments
Adam shriver you must gave a pile of false information!
You stated the school did a back ground check? NO ! Third party did one , that’s NOT the Des Moines school district doing a direct back ground check , that’s relying on THRIRD Party .
Next you claim Ian Roberson not a DR of education by the way which is fact, stated he was a US citizen that is a bold face lie! He can’t be a US citizen because he was here strictly on a visa for school education , which he over stayed again fact!
The school district stated he had indeed a doctorate in education but when they checked the online which never confirmed his doctorate!
You next tried to explain away the gun charge he received in Pennsylvania! Please man ! Know the laws .
Individuals in the U.S. on a student visa (F-1 visa) are generally prohibited from owning or possessing firearms unless they qualify for specific exceptions. Therefore, a person on a student visa cannot legally have a gun.
He got treated well on that charge as it should have been more serious ! You know like the one he is facing now? A loaded handgun in a school vehicle.
His order of removal was may 2024 ! We know the Biden admin hardly lifted a finger to remove people with removal orders . That’s how some human lives have been tragically lost , many who should have never been released after initial law enforcement charges , some 100% illegally in our country killing people and some with long wrap sheets .
I’m wondering why Des Moines school district never actually did a check into those gun charges ? Now the school district is stating they don’t know if his SS card was legit?
Traumatized ? Please. Again your trying to rub away facts of laws with feelings, the man shouldn’t have run away , he should have never been driving a school vehicle around with a loaded handgun, a knife and. 3,000 in cash ? What’s the 3 grand in cash for?
What would many be saying if he was a US citizen citizen and was let go for doing other crimes? With the trauma be the same ? More or less in your opinion.
Gaslighting is such a weird thing. The man lied to many and in the end the truth will come out and let’s hope Des Moines and other school districts learn from this ? We shall see.
Again everyone plays the victim, the real victims are the parents who have been duped by this entire hiring .
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 6:50 AM
Fact Adam not gaslighting
After reading through your post, a second time I realized instead of saying other news sources you called them right wing new sources. I see what you’re doing there, but the fact will remain the fax. Here’s one from the Des Moines register. Are you going to call them a right wing newspaper
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2025/09/30/dmps-superintendent-ian-roberts-claimed-doctoral-degree-morgan-state-university/86431683007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z11xx97p117250n00—-c00—-e008600v11xx97b00xxxxd11xx65&gca-ft=14&gca-ds=sophi&sltsgmt=0154_D
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 7:28 AM
We
The National School Board Coalition, a conservative K-12 advocacy organization, claimed in a news release the consultant Baker-Eubanks, one of the entities hired by DMPS to perform third-party background checks during Roberts’ hiring process, “admitted that it did not perform a basic I-9 verification.”
This claim is referring to a statement made by Baker-Eubanks CEO Kim Cockerham to the Des Moines Register. Cockerham said the criminal background check performed does not confirm a person’s ability to legally work in the U.S., saying “that’s not even a service that we offer.” Cockerham said, according to the Register.
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 7:34 AM
Wow layers of the onion
The more one digs into this the better this gets oh boy oh boy oh boy someone’s going to have massive egg on their faces and it’s probably going to be more than one group
Please read directly from the page of the company the Des Moines school district hired to do a nationwide search for Ian Robert’s .
The newest case study will in fact be their own company
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 7:46 AM
cognitive dissonance
I don’t know what time Dr. Roberts was taken into custody on September 26. I believe it was reported that he was on his way to a school event, but it has also been alleged that he had a gun, a hunting knife, and several thousand dollars in cash in his possession. The latter allegations would indicate that Dr. Roberts may have known in advance that he was going to be detained. It doesn’t add up.
Several hours later, I believe at 3 p.m., the school board held a press conference. See link below. Two of the speakers read from printed scripts that incorporated quotes from Dr. Roberts’ writing. A third speaker read some of these remarks in Spanish from a printed script. The claim that the school board knew nothing of this event before Dr. Roberts was detained does not seem plausible to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjM4hrUCgo
At roughly 4 p.m. on September 26, what appeared to be hundreds of protesters gathered near the federal courthouse in Des Moines, with signs, to protest Dr. Roberts’ detention. How were they mobilized so quickly?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/us/ian-roberts-des-moines-superintendent-arrested-ice
Later on September 26, Rep. Charley Thomson issued a detailed three-page letter calling for preservation of evidence. How was this letter written and distributed so quickly?
https://www.facebook.com/100064292935201/posts/1195638565922563/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=poBIHiE2m4xbMjgS
This is occurring as our federal government is in grave danger of being dismantled, with each party filling the airwaves claiming the other is to blame. I think they are both to blame, and I think it is intentional.
I think the cognitive dissonance created by all of the conflicting narratives in the Roberts story is intentional as well. It’s meant to divide us as the billionaire class, which in my view controls both “parties,” disassembles our democracy. And they are just about done with their work as we are all collectively caught up, as if frozen in amber, in one episode of manufactured chaos and trauma after another.
Nancy Dugan Wed 1 Oct 8:08 AM
Relying on third parties is how background checks are often done
In response to Midwest Conservative, the implication of Wolf’s comment was that no background check was performed. But one was performed…the fact that it was outsourced to another firm that is generally trusted in this space doesn’t mean DMPS did anything less than standard procedure.
Where do I say anything about a doctorate of education in the post? For what it’s worth it seems to me that he was dishonest about a Ph.D. from Morgan State but later did receive a doctorate from Trident.
“Owning a gun on a student visa is illegal.” Yes, but ICE is clearly not providing his full immigration history…we know they left out the judge’s order from 2025. I assume that he had a different visa at the time of the gun charge, but we won’t know until and unless ICE releases the full history.
AdamJShriver Wed 1 Oct 8:59 AM
hi Adam, thanks for the update
the trolls above aren’t here in good faith and I’m afraid that treating them as if they are only feeds the kinds of disinformation campaigns your post seeks to remedy. In general the facts of this particular matter are of course important but to take this raid as anything but a part of the larger fascist takeover of our governing bodies is to give aid to that vile cause. The context for all of these matters needs to be foregrounded at all times instead of adding legitimacy to this assault on our nascent multi cultural/racial Democracy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/opinion/charlie-kirk-jd-vance-cancel-culture.html?unlocked_article_code=1.p08.PSK4.ADgFd9tzDQeu
dirkiniowacity Wed 1 Oct 10:33 AM
AdamJShriver, thank you.
The facts do matter, and I appreciate your fact-checking.
PrairieFan Wed 1 Oct 11:07 AM
Adam nice try
His trident degree is shady as well, the school has never verified this was ever completed period. Again another fact . This man is on record with 3 different birthdates ! One on guys you are looking so desperate on this one, it’s going to end poorly for anyone sticking up for this con artist .
Roberts is quoted in 2020 referring to Guyana as his birthplace and saying that his father immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and his mother in the 2000s. But in a
2024 local news story, he claims he was born in Brooklyn and raised by a single mother.
Court records show Roberts’s birthdate as December 18, 1970. But his original Wikiped entry, created by an account that nearly matches a handle Roberts uses, says he was born December 18, 1978. And records from athletic competitions list his DOB at
December 18, 1973.
Roberts, lan Andre
12/18/1970
And the hits keep coming ? Lots of silence for such a widely decorated individual hey?
https://who13.com/news/metro-news/scrutiny-grows-around-now-former-des-moines-superintendent-ian-roberts-credentials-and-career-history/
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 12:19 PM
Dirkiniowacity
Lots of words with little to ANY real world value. This case is about the facts and facts alone, not feelings , or anything else. I don’t care if the guy was a conservative or a drag queen or a woman, the bottom line is did he lie ? Was he in the US illegally with a removal order? How can a non citizen be in possession of a firearm ? Not once but twice ? Hunting isn’t a right to have a gun for a visa citizen , one who has over stated his visa.
Telling people he was highly decorated in the field of education , when ,any have remained silent and some stating his stories are in fact false, again look up the firm Des Moines used to higher this guy , they lead claim to super abundance of very deep and through back ground checks and in fact list things that can go array without such being done!
Then the CEO of this firm states, We don’t do I-9 verification? What? What? Ok then why didn’t the Des Moines school district do such and who by the way did finger prints? I’ll await that answer as well.
Feelings don’t mean much until we have the facts , trying to silence people with feelings please , the gaslighting is over people.
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 12:27 PM
see the big picture
from intrepid labor reporter Amie Rivers (@amierivers.bsky.social) :
“The *checks notes* Civil Rights Division of the US Dept. of Justice under Trump says Des Moines Schools training and hiring teachers of color is … against the Civil Rights Act.
What the actual f”
https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1415751/dl
dirkiniowacity Wed 1 Oct 12:38 PM
Dirkiniowacity
Oh jerk where are you? Pulling such dribble we all know it’s not constitutional what you just stated. That’s such an easy one but yet you’re playing the race card on this. You have zero facts my man zero again all of my sources aren’t from Fox News. I use the Des Moines register and local television outlets .
Again, this is a free country you choose to believe whatever you want, but we’re not free to create your own facts on anything and the Des Moines school district is going to look awful silly. Once this is all over then you wonder why school vouchers are becoming more of a big thing in the state of Iowa That call is only going to grow more and more with all this silliness.
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 12:45 PM
Dirk
You have to apologize mine voice writing. I don’t know where the old jerk where are you came from that was not my intent at all.
The rest I stand by 100% but without the ability to edit my post, we have to let the old jerk. Where are you stand even though I have no idea how it translated that way
I will apologize for that remark ending up on here as I don’t need to call anybody out and ask them where they are, but the premise remains the same. You’re trying to turn this into a race issue and a left right issue when it comes down to the facts of this serious case
There’s so much more to unpack here than the trauma felt by some because this man was let go of his job where that ice came in to arrest him. That’s called law-enforcement. If you have a warrant out for your arrest, they’re going to go to the easiest place that they can find you
If I’m wanted on a warrant for a charge, the last thing I’m going to do is take off running from said lawn enforcement
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 2:06 PM
No title
The charade ends now for Ian Roberts in the Des Moines school board miss quoting credentials now have been proven from both of
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2025/10/01/dmps-superintendent-ian-andre-roberts-did-not-attend-mit-university-says/86454972007/
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 3:53 PM
Chicago tribune nails it
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/editorial-wild-case-ian-roberts-100000896.html
Midwestconservative Wed 1 Oct 8:44 PM
Bring back trust in government
We can all argue about the facts of this tragic case all day long. However, what really concerns me is how we can’t trust any level of government to tell us the truth. We need to see the Removal Order, and even then, we may question its authenticity, etc. The same is true with any other alleged “fact.” We need to demand that all levels of government commit to a new level of honesty and transparency. If we can’t trust our elected officials to be honest, then we need to elect new ones.
Jerry Foxhoven Thu 2 Oct 8:42 AM
Radical Empathy to Vicimhood
School board has gone from a stance of “radical empathy” to one of being a victim of falsehoods. What’s next? The entire board shouting “joy” and “move on noting to see here?” …joy? I’d like to trust the govt and govt officials but this whole thing reaks
HHHdemocrat Thu 2 Oct 3:15 PM
DMPS not to blame
It’s very clear that a lot of people in this thread have not hired anyone before. Schools and large companies do not run their own background checks. They do not do their own recruiting. They pay quite a lot of money to outside firms, like JG Consulting and Baker-Eubanks to do that work for them. Those firms present who they believe to be qualified candidates to the hiring committee with documentation that says “we ran a background check and here’s what we found”.
Baker-Eubanks and JG Consulting failed in this case. They were paid by DMPS to verify that Mr. (Dr?) Roberts was a valid candidate for the position. They obviously missed some glaring red flags in this case, and their professional reputation should take a major hit. In addition, what about the Board of Educational Examiners? How did the state licensing body miss this too?
Let me put it another way. If the school contracts AE to buy cartons of milk, and AE delivers sour milk, would we get out the pitchforks and torches asking why the principal didn’t taste every carton him or herself?
SharpHawkeye Thu 2 Oct 4:25 PM
hi sharphawkeye
yes to all of that, additionally our immigration system is very messy and complicated and poorly funded, and now weaponized as part of the overall ethnic cleansing program. The use of LLMs to scour electronic records is too blunt (and despite the moniker AI actually rather dumb) an instrument for careful analysis, but if one is just looking for any excuse to further conspiracy justified plans, then there will be endless errors of these kinds (and as you note they are everywhere) to exploit. The facts of any particular example will matter for the reporting and handling of the case at hand but aren’t much use in the culture/information war we are deep in as we see in this comment section. Maybe we should take Laura’s example (gemar chatimah tovah) and take some time off for reflection and repair…
dirkiniowacity Thu 2 Oct 6:12 PM
DMR update on "truths"
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2025/10/02/former-des-moines-superintendent-ian-roberts-restraining-order/86473882007/?tbref=hp
This is starting to sound like a “movie of the week.” The “radical empathy” just went out the window after reading this article. He’s as phony as a three-dollar bill despite the rush to defend him.
ModerateDem Fri 3 Oct 6:24 AM
I thought I was done posting until sharp Hawkeye posted this drivel
It’s very clear that a lot of people in this thread have not hired anyone before. Schools and large companies do not run their own background checks. They do not do their own recruiting. They pay quite a lot of money to outside firms, like JG Consulting and Baker-Eubanks to do that work for them. Those firms present who they believe to be qualified candidates to the hiring committee with documentation that says “we ran a background check and here’s what we found”.
Are you delusional? Again nor trying to slam you on purpose , but it’s obvious you haven’t worked very long if ever at a school district ?
Many school district conduct their own using state resources and do their own finger printing with such state resources, my wife has been in education for 34 years since 2006 in school admin . So your premise ALL school districts use a paid for private 3rd party is false
Yes, schools conduct their own background checks, and in fact, they are legally required to do so in every state, though the specific requirements vary by location and type of institution. These checks can include criminal history, sex offender registry status, employment and educational verification, and for some roles, driving or credit history checks. Schools may use third-party Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) to conduct these checks, and these checks are performed on employees, volunteers, and even some student applicants, especially in higher education
Just because Des Moines school board had him fill out a I-9 as per law , it was up to them to make sure that was done properly ! NOT that of the hiring firm. As they clearly stated I-9 verification isn’t their norm!
Not to mention why didn’t the gun charge in Pennsylvania run a massive RED FLAG to the des monies school board? For that matter Pennsylvania was also derelict as well, as almost NO ONE on a school visa is allowed to posses a firearm for ANY reason! Yet their background check was absent as well? He paid a 100 fine and let lose .
Where are the people stand up for this guy when it comes to an illegal handgun in a school vehicle along with 3,000 grand in cash and a hunting knife in said school vehicle? It to mention the fed charges for having 4 guns and his wife doing a possible straw purchase which is illegal knowingly buying said handgun for her husband, if she knew he had either a deportation order or was not a US citizen as then the lawful ability to “GIFT “ said fire arm is illegal as well.
So don think the Des Moines school district is without failed action on this. Please . How did a man in a town of 54,000 residents secure the job as superintendent in the largest city of Iowa on a nation wide search? Even after telling the board of his past gun charge and them knowing he didn’t have a doctorate degree ? Yes Des Moines school knowingly still referring to him as DR?
This entire search and higher needs to be wide open for ALL parnetw of the district and the state of IOWA!
Midwestconservative Fri 3 Oct 11:34 AM
modern times
What I read is often times a mixed message on Roberts. Some say he deceived the public, some say he deceived the hiring group, some say he deceived us all. What I don’t see is someone saying anything makes him a bad superintendent other than the facts his credentials are questionable. What did he do in Des Moines that made the school system a bad place for kids. Yes, he deceived the board but he didn’t harm any children, did he? He wasn’t in the Epstein files (as far as I know) and he did not call any of his constituents communists, unpatriotic or deplorable. Many of us were fooled but those type of mistakes happen all the time. We all make them and we all try to move on. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why so many people are so bent out of shape over Roberts’ deception. It happens, move on. No, we don’t need to fire the DMPS school board. They were duped too. No, we don’t need an investigation into how this happened because most people tend to believe in the overall goodness of others. Paranoia runs deep in people who have something to hide. What do you have to hide, Midwestconservative? How has this ordeal harmed you personally?
bodacious Sat 4 Oct 9:48 AM