With U.S. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem in attendance, Iowa Republicans cheered on the high-profile immigration arrest of former Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts for overstaying a deportation order.
Noem appeared at the Iowa State Fairgrounds with about 600 people for Iowa’s Roast and Ride on Saturday, Oct. 11, as President Trump’s administration ramps up efforts to bring the National Guard into Democrat-led cities and boost immigration enforcement.
National Guard troops also have began patrolling in Memphis, while the Trump administration battles lawsuits against similar deployments in California, Illinois and Oregon, where Democratic governors are pushing back.
Federal officials argue that violence against federal agents pose a danger. Governors and mayors oppose the move as unconstitutional and say local police are equipped to handle issues.
No such large-scale operations have unfolded in Iowa, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ targeted arrest of Roberts on Sept. 26 has grabbed headlines around the nation.
Since then, Roberts’ background and DMPS hiring practices have come under scrutiny. Though officials say he presented himself to the district and the state as a U.S. citizen, public records indicate Roberts never achieved that status. DMPS hired the Guyana native in 2023.
Des Moines Register reports also found Roberts did not earn the doctorate from Morgan State he frequently claimed he received, and other accolades on his resume were false. His detention has disquieted many in Des Moines, including supporters who say he has formed connections with students of color in a district where white enrollment is in the minority.
Noem said Robers was “pretending to be a citizen” and pointed to criminal charges he has faced, including federal weapons charges.
“Now he’s away from your children, and he’s being brought to justice as well,” Noem said to whistles, applause and a standing ovation from the audience. “… We are continuing to target the worst of the worst.”
Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish, previously told the Register in response to DHS sharing Roberts’ previous charges that most of the cases either did not appear to have resulted in convictions or were already known, and suggested the department was trying to “turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.”
‘Rock-ribbed’ GOP leadership would stop another DMPS situation, lawmakers say
Iowa’s junior Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, host of the 10th and final Roast and Ride after she announced in September she wouldn’t run for a third term in 2026, said she was grateful to ICE agents for “ensuring this dangerous criminal no longer has access to our children here in Iowa.”
She said having the “right leadership” would ensure it never happens again.
“We had an illegal immigrant with a criminal record running the Des Moines Public Schools system,” Ernst said. “This is what happens when you worry more about — their statement, not mine — ‘diversifying staff’ than hiring the right person for the job.”
U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, the Republican who represents northwestern Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and is aggressively moving toward mounting a campaign for Iowa governor, said Noem “helped apprehend and capture the Des Moines superintendent, who was illegal” while serving as a “watchdog over all the kids in Des Moines.”
He said the situation showed why Iowa needs “rock-ribbed” conservative leadership across levels of government.
“That is what happens when you have a liberal, progressive agenda in the Des Moines Public School system,” Feenstra said.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who represents northeastern Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District and is running for the U.S. Senate seat Ernst will vacate, said the Des Moines school board “hired a criminal illegal alien to head up the largest school district in the state.”
“He’s a con man, he’s an illegal immigrant and he is a criminal, so he can’t be deported fast enough, as far as I’m concerned,” Hinson said.
Iowa’s senior Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley thanked Noem for two things: “One, your department making sure that people are welcome to the United States as legal immigrants and I want to thank you for making sure that people that illegally entered our country leave this country.”
Roberts is now in the Polk County Jail, awaiting trial.
Federal officials say Roberts held work authorization occasionally over the years, including from 2000 to 2001 and from 2018 to 2020, but he hasn’t been authorized to work in the country since then.
DMPS officials said Roberts submitted an I-9 with a driver’s license and Social Security card. He stated he was a U.S. citizen, both DMPS and the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners have said.
DMPS is facing several investigations, including from the U.S. Department of Justice related to whether it violated federal employment law by discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin.
Republicans on the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee also have taken steps to probe DMPS over its hiring of Roberts. And three state senators have called for an audit of DMPS, although the district undergoes annual audits and most recently completed one in January with a private firm.
Iowa Republicans blame Democrats for ‘Schumer shutdown’
As the federal government shutdown carries on with no deal between the White House and top congressional leaders, members of Iowa’s all-Republican congressional delegation continued to point fingers at Democrats on Saturday.
Democrats have pushed for any government funding deal to reverse Medicaid cuts Republicans passed earlier this year and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits — a subsidy for Americans enrolled in Obamacare health plans — that will expire at the end of 2025 without congressional action. Their lapse will sharply spike individual health insurance premiums in 2026.
Republicans passed an estimated nearly $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending cuts in their signature tax and spending law dubbed the “big, beautiful bill.” They oppose Democrats’ push to undo changes that Republicans say preserve benefits for those who need assistance and include $50 billion intended to offset rural hospitals’ losses.
With no deal, the federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1. Trump’s administration has carried out a threat to fire thousands of federal workers, with agencies sending “reduction in force” notifications to federal workers heading into the weekend.
Ernst said U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is “quaking in his boots” over his political future.
“He is scared that (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.) is going to come after his job, so what did he do, folks?” Ernst said. “He shut down the federal government to appease to the far left instead of delivering for the American people, and pointless political games are coming at a price.”
U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican seeking reelection in 2026 in southeastern Iowa’s 1st Congressional District and faces one of the nation’s most targeted congressional races, said to “tell those Democrats and fake news to get off their high horse” and vote to fund the government and the military.
She spoke of seeing her dad, who served in the military, trying to figure out if he had enough money to pay the family’s bills before they bounced. Miller-Meeks said that experience has influenced her votes to fund the government so military families don’t have similar experiences.
“They lost the election 2024 and they want to undo the election by holding the American people hostage and undoing what we passed in the Working Families Tax Cut,” Miller-Meeks said, using the rebranded name Republicans have given their tax and spending law.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart in a statement said members of the congressional delegation were “treating this shutdown like a vacation.”
“Why can’t Iowa’s representatives show some Iowa work ethic instead of spending the weekend at Joni Ernst’s Republican fundraiser?” Hart said. “They should be working with their Republican colleagues to find a deal to open the government and prevent a spike in Iowans’ health care premiums. Don’t they think Iowans are paying attention?”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.
This story was updated to add a video and a gallery.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa GOP cheer on Kristi Noem over Ian Roberts arrest, blame Democrats for shutdown
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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