V 1 N. 23 Olympian Trackster Arrested by ICE in Des Moines, Iowa, He Also Happens to be Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools and an All American

 

                                                              Ian Roberts   from Olympedia

While reading that liberal British daily The Guardian yesterday (Sept. 26, 2025) I was drawn to a story about the ICE arrest of the Superintendent of Schools in Des Moines, Iowa.  WTF?   I thought they were only going after slaughterhouse workers and farm workers in Iowa.  In reading the article it only got more interesting.  The Super, Ian Roberts, Phd.  had been pulled over by police while driving a department vehicle.  In it he had a loaded weapon.   He then made the mistake of fleeing by driving away, and then abandoning the vehicle.  Subsequently he was arrested.  Oh, did I mention that racially he is a person of  African heritage?  He is originally  from Guyana.  Could anyone from ICE actually find Guyana on a map?  A few perhaps?  Anyway delving deeper into The Guardian article, it was mentioned that Dr. Roberts in addition to being a well liked school superintendent was also a former Olympian, having represented Guyana at the Sydney Olympics in the 800 meters.  He  did not advance out of his heat.   But he was no slouch of a runner.  In 1999 he won the Central American and Caribbean Championships 800 meters in 1:46.85.   (see below).  Dr. Roberts competed for Coppin State in Maryland where he was an All American finishing 7th in the NCAA Outdoors in 1999 and 6th indoors in 1998.  The article also mentioned that he had grown up in Brooklyn, NY, so he must have immigrated with his family as a child.  At some point he  applied and received a student visa to study at the collegiate level in the US.    Subsequently in other international gatherings he did not fare well, being eliminated in early rounds.  Nevertheless he is an Olympian.  

                                                      Ian Roberts  (mugshot)

Dr. Roberts had also been cited for a weapons violation in 2022 according to The Guardian article.  Not a good thing if you are an immigrant.  From The Guardian article:

"Court records in Pennsylvania show that Roberts pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a minor infraction for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle, and was fined. The case stemmed from a citation in Erie county issued the prior month by a Pennsylvania game commission officer, who stopped Roberts as he was finishing a day of deer hunting on state lands.

Roberts said at the time he was a longtime licensed hunter and gun owner, and that he had left his hunting rifle on the seat of his vehicle in plain view to ensure the officer did not feel threatened during their interaction. He said that he was shocked when the officer cited him for doing so, but that he pleaded guilty to avoid any distraction. He questioned whether his dark skin may have played a role in the case.

“I may not appear to be the ‘type of man’ who would enjoy deer season in Pennsylvania, in fact, I am and have been hunting for more than 20 years,” Roberts wrote in a social media post then."

Article that appeared in The Guardian   click here

This story makes me wonder how many people in the US must now be fearing everyday for their safety, not from the villains of the underworld but from the masked men and women working for the gubbmint as Molly Ivins used to say.  My own family is a mix of US and Canadian nationals, and we understand the thin ice ( pun intended) that we would tread crossing the border just for a family gathering these days.  In 1989 my wife,  a Canadian, entered the US and applied for a Green Card. No biggie. But  not knowing she had to remain in the US while the application was being processed,  she returned to Canada for a family visit and was subsequently denied re-entry back to the US.   This denial happened on the day the Berlin Wall fell.  That left us somewhat cynical.    We were separated for a year while that process dragged on. Documents got lost and delays kept cropping up.    Oh,  I forgot to mention that she also had given birth to two American citizens.  One child stayed with me in the US and the other stayed with her in Canada during that period.  It can give one a very different view of the words 'freedom', 'liberty,  and 'propaganda'.  

I fully sympathize and stand with the many, many people who are living in foreign lands, not just the US, and contributing to the prosperity of their adopted countries around the world regardless of the fully completed paperwork those countries demand.  And may the people perpetrating violence against those immigrants someday learn their lesson when they face a life crisis.  

I am reminded of a similar viewpoint to our current public policy toward immigrants.  This newspaper article is from the Dayton Journal of 1908.  It partly concerns my great grandfather Joe Dombrowski a Lithuanian immigrant living in Dayton, Ohio at the time.  I know this is hard to read, so I have transcribed the article below.

Seek City Angel for Aliens

A city commissioner to look after the interests of the rapidly growing foreign population of Dayton is the latest proposition that promises to soon engage the attention of City Council.

A proposition has been submitted to Mayor Burkhart wherein it is suggested that inasmuch as there is a large foreign element in the city's population provision be made in a systematic way for the relief of these foreigners, not by means of a Police Court interpreter, for the greater part of the foreigners are not called into Police Court, or to dispense charity, but to aid them in adjusting themselves to American customs and ideas and assist them in developing good citizenship qualifications.

Joe Dombrowski interpreter of seven languages and who has for the past several years acted as Police Court interpreter when one was needed, has submitted a proposition to Mayor Burkhart to have an inspector appointed to look after foreigners who work and reside in the city, and whose duties, besides seeing that all the foreigners conduct their affairs according to the law, and to look after the improvements needed by them, shall also act as the official interpreter in Police Court.

Mr. Dombrowski claims that the city would be greatly benefited by having such an inspector, as there are a great many foreigners who do not speak or understand the English language and, because of this, cannot comply with our laws.

Mayor Burkhart although not having had time to sufficiently investigate the propriety of such an appointment, says that he believes  that it might develop into a beneficial thing for the city, and he may make further investigation.

Others interested in the movement have suggested J.D. Moscowitz as an acceptable or desirable person to fill such commissionership, advancing as a reason the fact that no man is more intimately acquainted with the city's foreign element than he and the fact that he has inaugurated practical welfare work among Hungarians that is meeting with effective results.

Foreigners conservatively estimate the foreign population of Dayton to be exclusive of course of Germans, Russians, French, Swiss, etc.  

                                                        Hungarians        2500

                                          Poles                    350

                                                   Lithuanians               300

                                                       Slavonians            300

                                                     Roumanians            150

                                                          Greeks                150

                                                         Italians               1000

                                                         Total                   4750

If one scrutinizes that last paragraph only somewhat casually, one can see that various ethnicities were being classified like cattle.  

Long story short,  Great Grandpa Dombrowski, moved on to Detroit and worked the rest of his life for the Ford Motor Company helping the immigrant workers and their families adapt to the American way of life.    Mr. Moskowitz also mentioned above worked for the Barney Car Company recruiting Hungarian laborers and housing them in a closed community in Dayton behind a wall.  It was only their children while attending the public schools who became 'Americanized'.  Those houses are still there, the wall is not.  And quite a number of those houses today are still occupied by immigrant families.  

George Brose

Note:  Thanks to Walt Murphy for corroborating Dr. Roberts' All American status.  Walt, I won't tell ICE that you collaborated.  George