DES MOINES, Iowa — The attorney for Dr. Ian Roberts has announced the embattled superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, who was detained by ICE last Friday, is resigning his position.

Alfredo Parrish held a news conference on Tuesday at noon to release information about his client’s situation. Parrish said he’d been in contact with Roberts, who expressed his gratitude for the support he’s received from the community. The letter of resignation states that his resignation is out of concern for the 30,000 students in the district, staff, educators and the Board to focus on education.

local affiliate WHO asked if the letter of resignation means that Dr. Roberts was not able to give the Des Moines School Board the immigration and work authorization it required. Parrish referred back to the letter as the reasoning for the resignation.

Parrish said his law firm filed a motion to stay proceedings in Roberts’ immigration and deportation case on Monday in Omaha. They plan to file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case on Tuesday.

According to documentation provided by Parrish, Dr. Roberts’ prior attorney based out of Little Elm, TX states that Dr. Roberts’ immigration case was resolved successfully.

That notice is from March 27, 2025, almost a year after an immigration judge issued a final order of removal. That notice came from May 22, 2024, and it also states that Dr. Roberts failed to appear in this proceeding.

The Department of Homeland Security said at the time Roberts was detained last week, there was a loaded gun, a fixed blade hunting knife, and $3,000 cash in his possession.

The Des Moines School Board voted on Saturday to place Roberts on paid administrative leave, and then on Monday, moved him to unpaid administrative leave. That action took place after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners removed Dr. Roberts’ administrator license on Monday morning.

The Des Moines School Board has scheduled a special session for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night. That meeting was initially supposed to start the termination proceedings, but now with his resignation, the district will not have to go down that path.

There were numerous questions that Parrish would not answer at this time, including the prior gun charge from February 2020, the allegations from ICE of the loaded handgun in the school-issued vehicle, or being able to state how Dr. Roberts got his Social Security number and knowledge of his immigration status.

The legal team confirmed that he was born in December of 1970 in Guyana and that he served in the military there. Parrish alluded to Dr. Roberts’ work in the military, stating that he led difficult raids on big criminals, and that he was often an assassination target by the cartel.

Parrish said that there is a lot of information that his legal team is working to confirm as the case involves multiple districts. He expects to hold more press conferences when his team has that information ready to share.

Parrish addressed questions about Roberts’ doctoral degree, saying his office checked with Trident International. Parrish believes Trident found no issues with the degree.