Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is continuing his push for Des Moines Public Schools to begin using E-Verify following the high-profile immigration arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts for overstaying a deportation order.
At the time the Guyana native was hired at DMPS in 2023, “Roberts should not have had any valid documentation showing employment authorization,” according to an Oct. 6 news release from Grassley’s office. Grassley cited information from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as part of a request he made last week into Roberts’ case, including whether the district used E-Verify as well as a full accounting of his immigration history.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the school district does not use the free, online system — which is provided by DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to check government records for valid work authorization.
Department officials said if an E-Verify case using “expired Employment Authorization Document (EAD)” had been opened “it would have resulted in a nonconfirmation,” according to the release. Federal officials have said Roberts held work authorization occasionally over the years, including from 2000 to 2001 and from 2018 to 2020.
Roberts completed an I-9 form, the document that employers must use to confirm employees’ authorization to work in the United States. Phil Roeder, a spokesperson for the district, said last week that Roberts gave the district a copy of his driver’s license and a Social Security card.
The long-time educator also passed a background check conducted by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and was issued an administrator license in July 2023. In both cases, Roberts stated he was a U.S. citizen.
Des Moines Public Schools officials have maintained that Roberts submitted the needed documents to confirm he was eligible to work in the U.S.
“While the school district does not currently use E-Verify, and it is not a requirement of Iowa employers, the information presented by the superintendent candidate on and with the I-9 form was consistent with the claim that he was a U.S. citizen,” Roeder said in a release Monday. “The district will continue to cooperate with and respond to state and federal officials on any issue.”
During an Oct. 3 meeting with the Des Moines Register editorial board, Interim Superintendent Matt Smith said the district is “in conversations about” whether it will begin using the E-Verify system.
At the same meeting, Smith said he was confident the district’s roughly 5,000 employees have valid work authorizations.
“I have confidence that we have done all of our due diligence as an organization,” Smith said.
During a Sept. 30 press call, Grassley told the Des Moines Register it was the school district’s responsibility to determine whether Roberts could legally work in the U.S. This echoes comments by the Iowa Department of Education.
“Every responsibility under the law has always been the responsibility of an employer to make sure that they don’t hire somebody illegally into the country,” Grassley said.
Iowa law does not require employers use E-Verify to determine whether someone can legally work in the U.S.
According to its website, the Ankeny Community School District, Coon Rapids-Bayard School District, Storm Lake Community School District, Panorama Community School District and Ballard Community School District are the public education systems in Iowa registered as using E-Verify.
Only federal contractors are required to use the system, operated by DHS, according to Reuters. As of 2025, states like Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina require E-Verify for both public and private employers. States such as Colorado, Idaho, and Indiana mandate E-Verify for public employers or those with state contracts, Reuters reported.
Despite a low error rate, the system is not flawless and can lead to false positives by flagging authorized employees as unauthorized and it may not always detect instances of identity theft, according to Experian Employer Services. The company also warns the data the system uses to confirm work authorization may not be up to date.
In the wake of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid there, Chad Hartmann, president of Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, said the plant used E-Verify to check its workers. He told Reuters that when he said this to a federal agent, the agent responded “the system is broken” and urged him to contact his local congressional representative. Approximately 75-80 people were detained in the June raid.
Since his arrest Sept. 26, some of Roberts’ academic record has been found to be inaccurate or falsified. The district filed a lawsuit against JG Consulting, the superintendent search firm that promoted Roberts as a viable candidate, on Oct. 3.
Information the Department of Homeland Security released the same day at Grassley’s request states Roberts has been arrested several times while in the U.S.
Roberts currently is being held in the Polk County Jail on a federal charge of possessing a firearm as an “illegal alien.” Federal agents found a loaded weapon in Roberts’ district-issued vehicle the day of his arrest, as well as three more in his home.
Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at svhernandez@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sen. Chuck Grassley releases information on DMPS use of E-Verify after Ian Roberts’ arrest
Reporting by Samantha Hernandez, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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