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Des Moines Public School Board (DMPS) Chair Jackie Norris ended her bid for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat Thursday after facing backlash for urging “radical empathy” toward former superintendent and illegal immigrant Ian Andre Roberts.
Norris, a Democrat who previously served as first lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, said the “superintendent crisis” demanded her full attention as board chair and put her “in the crosshairs of vicious and coordinated attacks.”
“Those realities took time and oxygen away from the work I set out to do: stand up for our kids and families — and the backbone of our communities, their educators and caregivers,” Norris wrote in a statement.
Jackie Norris worked as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff in the White House. (Getty Images)
SCHOOL CHIEF TO SUSPECT: ICE ARREST OF DES MOINES SUPERINTENDENT EXPOSES FAKE DEGREES, DRUG CONVICTIONS
Roberts, the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district, has an extensive criminal history and was living and working in the U.S. illegally.
He submitted his resignation Sept. 30, after his Sept. 26 arrest by immigration authorities, which involved a short car chase.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said agents allegedly found a gun, hunting knife and $3,000 in cash in his car.
Former Des Moines Public Schools District Superintendent Ian Roberts, right, was arrested last month after fleeing from federal immigration agents. (Des Moines Independent Community School District; Polk County Sheriff)
DES MOINES PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD ACCEPTS SUPERINTENDENT’S RESIGNATION AFTER ICE ARREST
Federal officials say Roberts, who illegally returned to the U.S. from Guyana in 1999 after a theft and drug arrest, was convicted in 2012 of reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding in Maryland.
In 2020, he was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree weapon charges.
Despite…
