The illegal immigrant with a criminal record caught running Iowa’s largest school district championed and helped pass a policy that makes it easier for criminals to be hired in the district.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Friday arrested Ian Roberts, a Guyanese national who is in the country illegally but was nevertheless serving as the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS). When he was hired, Roberts already had a criminal history relating to the illegal possession of a firearm and which the district knew about at the time, according to the Des Moines Register.
The district changed its hiring practices to make it even easier for this to happen again with a new policy Roberts personally recommended and helped to get enacted.
Individuals with criminal records were previously automatically disqualified from working within the schools, but Roberts said at the time the policy change was necessary to diversify DMPS’ staff, according to the Des Moines Register.
“I believe that people are so much better than the worst thing they’ve ever done,” Roberts said at a public forum at the time. “I have overturned at least … five or six decisions around not hiring individuals based on something in their background because they have an opportunity not only for them to be redeemed, but for them to add value to the students that we are serving.”