On Friday morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents nabbed Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts, and now it appears he's been lost in custody.
The school is at a loss as to why ICE arrested Roberts, whose parents came to the U.S. from Guyana, The Associated Press reported.
“We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps,” the school said in a statement.
Now it appears no one knows where he is in the "system."
ICE records show Roberts in custody "at a county jail in western Iowa." However, "a Pottawattamie County jail employee said he is not currently at their jail."
There is another county jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but it is approximately 130 miles west of Des Moines.
"An employee at the ICE office in St. Paul, Minnesota, which oversees operations in Iowa, said he had no information on Roberts’ arrest," the AP said.
The report also noted that calls went out to ICE "regional offices in Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri," but that all of those calls "went unanswered."
Local reports noted Roberts was in the 2000 Olympics, "received a bachelor's degree from Coppin State University, and received his master's degree in education and an Ed.D. in Urban Educational Leadership at St. John's University."
Locals are calling on citizens to come to the Neil Smith Federal Building in downtown Des Moines at 4 p.m. to protest on Roberts' behalf.
In a concurring opinion authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the judge wrote, "If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go. If the individual is illegally in the United States, the officers may arrest the individual and initiate the process for removal."
That has proven not to be the case in several instances so far.
