The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the DEI hiring practices at the Iowa school system that employed an illegal immigrant superintendent, who resigned from his post Tuesday.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Des Moines Public Schools Interim Superintendent Matthew Smith Tuesday, notifying him of the probe, which will look into whether the district “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.” The federal government’s latest move comes as the school district faces backlash after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested its then-superintendent, Ian Andre Roberts of Guyana, on Friday.
Roberts, who was hired in 2023, received a deportation order in May 2024 and had weapons charges from February 5, 2020, according to ICE.
When he was hired, Roberts “stated he was a citizen” on his I-9 employment eligibility form and provided a driver’s license and social security card, Des Moines Public School board chair Jackie Norris said in a recent statement. However, there was never any record that his name was run through the federal E-Verify system, which ensures workers are in the country legally and eligible to work, before he assumed the role, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently told The Daily Wire.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)
“DEI initiatives and race-based hiring preferences in our schools violate federal anti-discrimination laws and undermine educational priorities,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement regarding the Justice Department’s investigation.
“School districts must cease these unlawful programs and restore merit-based employment practices for the benefit of both students and employees,” she added.
Credit: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The DMPS website states that it requires its staff to match the student population “demographics and cultural responsivity.” The school district has also set quotas to increase “the number of teachers of color,” according to the DOJ.
As part of its staff retention strategy, the school district sets a goal to “lift up voices of our People of Color” and “create a safer environment for People of Color,” according to the plan.
The school district has also formed the “3D Coalition” to recruit and hire “aspiring minority teachers,” according to its website.
A spokesman for the school district didn’t immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.
