Defense of gun-toting illegal superintendent could undermine former Obama staffer's Senate campaign

Democrat Jackie Norris, who oversaw the Des Moines, Iowa School Board for several years while an illegal immigrant named Ian Andre Roberts ran Des Moines' public schools, has rushed to defend Roberts publicly as he faces removal proceedings from immigration services. The Department of Homeland Security said Roberts was found in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed-blade hunting knife. 

But by defending Roberts, Norris may be undermining her own U.S. Senate campaign in a state that is growing increasingly conservative. Norris’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News. 

Norris encouraged "radical empathy" for Roberts

Although it is a violation of federal law for those in the U.S. without legal status to possess a firearm and ammunition, Norris, who is also the former chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama, urged people to have “radical empathy” for the superintendent, Ian Roberts, an illegal immigrant from Guyana who has held education positions at school districts across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions, despite his immigration status.

"There is much we do not know," Norris said. "However, what we do know is that Dr. Roberts has been an integral part of our school community since he joined over two years ago."

"During his time with our district, he has shown up in ways big and small and has advocated for students and staff, and has begun introducing concepts that will help us reimagine education for future generations," she added. 

In a statement posted to the Board of Des Moines Public Schools website, Norris said that Roberts joined the district in 2023 after receiving licenses from the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and a long career in educational roles across the United States for 20 years. According to the statement, Roberts passed the required background and employment eligibility checks for the role. 

Guns and student safety suddenly ignored by Norris

Nowhere in her statement did Norris address the fact that Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Saturday that the agency had arrested Roberts after he sped away from officers in his vehicle during a “targeted enforcement operation” last Friday. He abandoned his vehicle near a “wooded area.” Moreover, the vehicle was issued to him by the school district.

Before Roberts' arrest, Norris went as far as using the national reaction to conservative influencer Charlie Kirk's murder as a springboard to champion protecting children from gun violence: "What I think is interesting in this whole conversation is that never do we lower flags when kids get gunned down in school massacres, and we are so focused on political rhetoric that we have to tone it down," according to The Iowa Mercury Substack.

It turns out that Norris was wrong about that fact, as The Iowa Mercury pointed out that "Officials have, in the wake of school shootings, ordered flags lowered to half staff. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Aug. 27 issued a formal statement directing flags to be lowered at the capitol and other state buildings and encouraging local government entities across Iowa to follow suit “to remember the victims of the Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.”

School board: "No one here was aware of any citizenship or immigration issues"

According to ICE, Roberts had existing weapons possession charges from 2020 and was issued a removal order by an immigration judge in May 2024. The superintendent had entered the country in 1999 on a student visa, but apparently remained in the country. 

The school board said that it had no knowledge of the removal order issued in 2024. “No one here was aware of any citizenship or immigration issues that Dr. Roberts may have been facing,” the school board said in a statement. The board has also repeatedly pushed back on the accusation that they were aware of Roberts’ illegal status when he was hired. 

State lawmakers, who are overwhelmingly Republican, indicated that they may take action to improve the vetting process, so something like this does not happen again. 

Bad facts, bad timing for Norris

Since Donald Trump’s first political ascension in 2016, Iowa – once a midwestern toss-up – has grown increasingly Republican and conservative. Any pushback on strict immigration enforcement is likely to face headwinds with the state’s voters in the election, if Norris can win the primary. In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump won the state in a landslide, winning by 13.2 percentage points, the widest margin for any candidate since 1972. 

The controversy comes at a bad time for Norris, who just last month expanded her political ambitions to include a seat in the U.S. Senate. When she launched her bid for the seat in the Democratic primary, she cited her experience on the Des Moines School Board as part of her qualifications. 

Recent polling indicates that Republicans are dominating immigration policy, a big shift in the national electorate. A Washington Post/Ipsos poll from mid-September found that Americans trust Republicans to do a better job on immigration than Democrats by a 13-point margin. This is a huge win for Republicans, who ran on the issue in the 2024 election. That issue is also a central part of President Trump’s current platform. 

So far, Norris has tried to walk a tightrope in the conservative midwestern state that once was more friendly to Democrats, attempting to strike a bipartisan message when she launched her campaign last month, promising to work with “strange bedfellows” if it meant good things for Iowa. 

“Americans are going to believe in government again if they actually see us putting them ahead of our party loyalties. And look, in Iowa, Trump was elected, and so, I’m going to work with whatever strange bedfellows I need to, to accomplish good things for Iowa,” Norris said, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. 

“So whether that’s addressing some of the uncertainty with our tariffs, whether that’s making sure we restore health access to our veterans … that is what people should expect of us, is that we are not just yelling at each other, but we’re actually getting things done for them,” she continued. 

Beyond her work as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Norris worked for a nonprofit founded by George H.W. Bush and on the campaigns of former Democratic Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Barack Obama.