Ian Andre Roberts, the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, isn’t just accused of breaking immigration law—he’s also been a registered Democrat voter in Maryland for over a decade, despite overstaying a student visa from 1999.
Roberts was arrested by ICE late last week, and the revelations about his active Democratic voter registration since 2012 add yet another layer to the scandal.
The saga of Ian Andre Roberts was troubling enough from the start. He entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999, ignored a final removal order from an immigration judge in 2024, and somehow gamed the system long enough to land a $270,000-a-year job as superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools. When ICE finally moved in, Roberts fled. Agents later discovered cash, a knife, and a loaded gun in his vehicle.
That alone is a damning indictment of our broken immigration system: an illegal alien profiting off the loopholes, thumbing his nose at the law, and occupying a powerful position in American education.
But the story doesn’t end there.
According to records uncovered by Townhall columnist Dustin Grage, Roberts has been registered to vote as a Democrat in Maryland since 2012. That’s right—a man who should have been deported years ago has enjoyed active voter registration status for more than a decade.
It’s the perfect snapshot of everything seedy about the current state of affairs: lax enforcement, political corruption, and a system that rewards lawbreakers while undermining trust in both immigration and elections. Democrats tell us voter fraud is a “myth.” Yet here we have an illegal immigrant, a school superintendent no less, sitting comfortably on the voter rolls as a proud Democrat.
This isn’t just a personal scandal—it’s a flashing red warning sign about a system that’s collapsing under its own hypocrisy. And of course, this highlights why Democrats have picked the “illegal immigrant” hill to die on: They know there are many more Andre Roberts’ out there on voter rolls, helping them maintain power.
And this outrage also helps explain why Democrats refuse to cooperate with federal officials, per federal law, to clean their voter registration rolls.
That’s exactly why Democrats have fought tooth and nail against the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility), a commonsense bill from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) that simply ensures only American citizens can vote in federal elections. The House passed it back in April 2025, but it’s now stalled in the Senate—thanks to Democrats who seem more interested in trading secure elections for power.