{"id":656,"date":"2026-05-27T21:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=656"},"modified":"2026-05-27T21:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:09:23","slug":"ian-roberts-illegal-immigrant-facing-prison-for-citizenship-fraud-still-on-marylands-voter-rolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=656","title":{"rendered":"Ian Roberts, illegal immigrant facing prison for citizenship fraud, still on Maryland\u2019s voter rolls"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than eight months after he was arrested, and three months after he pleaded guilty and admitted he is not a U.S. citizen, Ian Andre Roberts remained on Maryland\u2019s voter rolls, according to a group that has been tracking the case.<\/p>\n

Read more The danger of digital footprints: How \u2018ubiquitous technical surveillance\u2019 threatens U.S. military<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberts is due to be sentenced Friday for lying about his citizenship when he won the school superintendent\u2019s job in Des Moines, Iowa, and for having a small arsenal of guns in his possession \u2014 also against the law for an illegal immigrant.<\/p>\n

But Maryland has so far declined to boot him from its voter rolls, despite the public reporting, and Roberts\u2019 own guilty plea in February when he admitted he \u201cwas not and has never been a United States citizen,\u201d and was \u201cillegally and unlawfully present\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Roberts first registered in 2017 and re-registered again five years later, both times wrongly checking \u201cYes\u201d when asked if he was a citizen, according to records obtained by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which has confirmed through tracing that the Roberts sitting in jail in Iowa is the same man on the rolls in Prince George\u2019s County, Maryland.<\/p>\n

While the voter deceit has been going on for years, his deception of schools across the country has lasted even longer, according to federal prosecutors, who say he began working as a principal at a school in Maryland as far back as 2008, then was a principal in the District of Columbia, a school district administrator in St. Louis, and then a superintendent in Pennsylvania and Iowa.<\/p>\n

He lacked legal work status for each of those jobs, government lawyers said in a court filing late last week.<\/p>\n

Yet he was hired, time and again.<\/p>\n

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement finally caught up with Roberts in Des Moines last September, he ran away on foot, leaving his school-issued vehicle.<\/p>\n

While some officers chased him down, others went over the vehicle and found a loaded Glock 19 pistol, an extended magazine loaded with 29 more rounds, $3,000 in cash, his Guyanese passport, a bogus Social Security card and a copy of his May 2025 order of deportation issued by an immigration judge.<\/p>\n

He had three other weapons at home \u2014 a Sig Sauer P320 pistol, a Remington bolt-action rifle and a Remington shotgun, along with plenty of ammunition \u2014 none of which he was supposed to possess, given his lack of legal status.<\/p>\n

That weight of evidence might have silenced others, but Roberts, a former Olympian runner for his native Guyana who has always displayed a fake-it-till-you-make-it optimism, has been anything but silent as he sits in his jail cell awaiting the outcome of his case.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s continued posting to his LinkedIn page, delivering missives on the importance of reaching schoolchildren where they are, the importance of hope, the power of prayer and the demand for redemption.<\/p>\n

He called his time behind bars his \u201ccurrent assignment\u201d and said it\u2019s been made bearable by fellow inmates seeking out his advice, assistance or spiritual counseling.<\/p>\n

In one post, he expounded on the need for \u201cradical empathy\u201d and removing the \u201cred asterisk\u201d of judgment that holds people back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if there\u2019s one beside your name \u2014 placed there by a mistake you made, a label you didn\u2019t ask for, or a judgment you once accepted \u2014 I hope you find the courage and community to erase it too,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Roberts has even published a book from jail, \u201cUnshakable: How bold leaders win hearts, inspire minds and obtain results during crisis,\u201d filled with similar reflections and mantras for burgeoning leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of our situation, circumstance or prediction about outcomes, you always have one more move,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

What is not in those writings is any explanation of how he managed to mislead so many people for so long.<\/p>\n

Matthew O\u2019Brien, a former immigration judge who is now deputy executive director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the simple answer is people were inclined not to look.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump declares Strait of Hormuz must remain open in peace deal<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds shocking, but believe it or not, it\u2019s actually fairly easy to do this on a long-term basis,\u201d Mr. O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThe system is built to allow people like this to exploit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Iowa, school officials insisted they went through a \u201cmethodical, data-informed and rigorous\u201d hiring process and blamed an outside contractor for not verifying Roberts\u2019 work status.<\/p>\n

A Pennsylvania township that hired Roberts in 2020 also blamed a contractor for helping hire him.<\/p>\n

In Maryland, election officials have brushed aside questions about his place on the voter rolls.<\/p>\n

In a statement in September, after Roberts\u2019 initial arrest, the state cautioned against assuming it was the same Roberts, then said it could only cancel the name if the person self-removed, or if a local election board were to \u201creceive information\u201d that he wasn\u2019t a citizen.<\/p>\n

Apparently, a guilty plea and impending sentencing aren\u2019t enough information. PILF said his name was still on the rolls when it checked Wednesday, showing him still to be registered as a Democrat at an address in Greenbelt, and a polling place of Greenbelt Middle School\u2019s gym.<\/p>\n

There was even a sample ballot prepared for him for the June 23 Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

A group of Republican state lawmakers wrote election officials in January asking them about Roberts\u2019 removal. Delegate Matthew Morgan told The Washington Times they never got a response.<\/p>\n

Neither the state Board of Elections nor Prince George\u2019s County\u2019s board responded to inquiries for this story.<\/p>\n

PILF\u2019s Logan Churchwell said the state could have blocked someone like Roberts from getting on the rolls in the first place if it had used Homeland Security\u2019s SAVE system, which can verify someone\u2019s eligibility for government programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s telling that SAVE is used in [Maryland] for refugee programs but not voter registration,\u201d Mr. Churchwell said. \u201cThe Biden and Trump administrations have worked in succession to optimize the system \u2014 the only one of its kind. If a state won\u2019t use SAVE, it\u2019s proof of ideological capture and nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department said the sentencing guidelines call for him to serve 30 to 37 months in prison, and Assistant U.S. Attorney MacKenzie Benson Tubbs said he should serve the full 37 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than 15 years as an education professional, defendant cultivated a public image grounded in integrity, leadership, and authenticity. Yet behind that public image, defendant engaged in conduct that undermined those values,\u201d she wrote to the judge.<\/p>\n

She also said Roberts shouldn\u2019t get a lighter sentence just because he will likely be deported at the end of his sentence.<\/p>\n

Roberts\u2019 own sentencing memorandum to the judge was filed last week but was sealed.<\/p>\n

His lawyer asked that it be unsealed and a magistrate judge has agreed, subject to review by the district judge. It hadn\u2019t been made public as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Read more Chicago U.S. attorney scrambles to contain grand jury scandal after botched ICE protest prosecution<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than eight months after he was arrested, and three months after he pleaded guilty and admitted he is not a U.S. citizen, Ian Andre Roberts remained on Maryland’s voter rolls, according to a group that has been tracking the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nIan Roberts, illegal immigrant facing prison for citizenship fraud, still on Maryland\u2019s voter rolls - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=656\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ian Roberts, illegal immigrant facing prison for citizenship fraud, still on Maryland\u2019s voter rolls - 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