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(NEW YORK) — Books bans in public schools have become a “new normal” in the U.S., escalating since 2021, according to one advocacy group. In a new report, PEN America said the federal government has emerged in 2025 as the newest force fueling campaigns to restrict materials related to race, racism and LGBTQ+ issues.

There were 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts in the 2024-2025 school year, the report said. PEN America works to promote freedom of expression in the literary space.

According to the report, which was released on Wednesday ahead of Banned Books Week (Oct. 5 to 11), Florida had the highest number of book bans with 2,304, followed by Texas with 1,781 bans and Tennessee with 1,622.

“A disturbing ‘everyday banning’ and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years. The result is unprecedented,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program.

The bans, some of which are temporary while others are indefinite, have hit 2,308 authors, with “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven, “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo and “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas topping the list of most banned books in the 2024-2025 school year.

Other frequently banned titles include “Forever … ,” by Judy Blume, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “Damsel” by Elana K. Arnold.

The bans largely target books about race and racism in the U.S. or books featuring people of color and LGBTQ+ people and topics, according to the report, as well as some books for young adults that include sexual references or discuss sexual violence.

“Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country,” the report said.

It noted that the bans, which it said are driven by advocacy groups that champion conservative viewpoints, are reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950s — a period of intense anticommunist fear in the U.S., which prompted censorship efforts.

“Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide,” the report said. “Never before have so many politicians sought to bully school leaders into censoring according to their ideological preferences, even threatening public funding to exact compliance. Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.”

There were nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states in the U.S. and 451 public school districts since 2021, according to PEN America. They started documenting book bans in 2021 as special interest groups lobbied school boards across the country to remove books based on content.

Four years later, the practice has become “normalized,” the report found, with efforts to ban books expanding. It said some state legislatures passed laws restricting certain materials and state departments of education issued directives for schools to remove materials. It also highlighted “do not buy” lists issued by some school districts, banning educators from choosing certain books for libraries and school curriculums.

According to the report, under the Trump administration in 2025, the federal government has emerged as a new “vector” for book ban campaigns across the country, largely through President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Although the executive orders do not specifically mention book bans or target certain books, they threaten to withhold federal funding from K-12 schools that “[imprint] anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children.”

PEN America highlighted “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which was signed by Trump on Jan. 29. In it, the administration cited themes of race, racism and transgender ideology as examples of “radical indoctrination,” and argued that introducing this content to children in public schools usurps parental rights.

“In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics,” the executive order said. “In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.”

PEN America noted that the “parental rights” argument is central to the Trump administration’s federal policies limiting certain content in schools. This movement, which was sparked in 2021 and championed by conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, has been utilized by advocacy groups to fight for book banning in states like Florida and Texas.

In June 2023, then-President Joe Biden appointed a “book ban coordinator” in the Department of Education’s office for Civil Rights. On Jan. 24, 2025, after Trump returned to the White House, the Department of Education dismissed 11 complaints related to “book bans,” calling them a “hoax.”

“By dismissing these complaints and eliminating the position and authorities of a so-called ‘book ban coordinator,’ the department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement at the time. “The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities.”

According to the PEN America report, the public pressure from federal and state officials to restrict certain content in schools prompted so-called “preemptive bans” and censorship. The group said school administrators and educators often opt not to fight and instead remove books from shelves or decide against potentially objectionable materials.

“No book shelf will be left untouched if local and state book bans continue wreaking havoc on the freedom to read in public schools,” Sabrina Baêta, senior manager of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said in a statement. “With the Trump White House now also driving a clear culture of censorship, our core principles of free speech, open inquiry, and access to diverse and inclusive books are severely at risk.”

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — A now-former school superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has been charged by federal prosecutors in Iowa with one count of being an “illegal alien in possession of firearms,” according to court records.

Former Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Roberts was charged by complaint on Wednesday, according to the case docket. The complaint remains under seal.

He is set for an initial appearance Thursday afternoon before a magistrate judge.  The docket indicates that the appearance will be by video.

The docket also indicates that he was arrested on Thursday. He had been in ICE detention at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, though he has since been taken into custody by the Department of Justice on a federal warrant for his arrest, according to Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan.

Roberts, 54, was initially detained by ICE agents on Friday. He was in possession of a loaded handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife and $3,000 in cash, according to ICE.

Roberts, a native of Guyana, had a final order of removal issued by a judge in 2024 and no work authorization in the U.S., according to ICE. He resigned as the superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools on Tuesday.

Roberts joined the district in July 2023 and had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for 20 years, according to Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris.

The Des Moines School Board was not aware of Roberts’ immigration issues at the time of his hiring, according to Norris, who said following his detainment that the board is taking ICE’s allegations “very seriously.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided at low speeds while taxiing Wednesday evening at LaGuardia Airport, according to the airline.

Endeavor flight 5155 was taxiing for departure when its wing made contact with the fuselage of Endeavor flight 5047 as it was taxiing to its gate after arriving, the airline said when releasing preliminary information.

“Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit we have damage to our windscreen and … some of our screens in here,” a pilot can be heard saying on the Air Traffic Control audio.

Delta said a flight attendant suffered a minor injury and no passenger injuries were reported. The flight attendant was transported to a nearby hospital out of precaution, according to Port Authority.

The collision took place around 9:56 p.m., and there was no impact to airport operations, according to the Port Authority.

“Delta teams at our New York-LaGuardia hub are working to ensure our customers are taken care of after two Delta Connection aircraft operated by Endeavor Air were involved in a low-speed collision during taxi. Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else. We apologize to our customers for the experience,” Delta said in a statement.

Delta said it will cooperate with the Port Authority, Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigations.

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(WASHINGTON) — An immigration judge on Wednesday denied a motion filed by Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to reopen his immigration case, according to a copy of the decision obtained by ABC News. 

In the emergency motion filed in August to reopen the case, attorneys for the wrongly deported Abrego Garcia argued that because he was deported to El Salvador and then brought back to the United States, he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S.

But in the order filed on Wednesday, Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Philip Taylor said that Abrego Garcia’s motion to reopen his motion to seek asylum is “untimely” because he filed the motion nearly six years after his immigration proceedings — beyond the 90-day deadline required. 

Judge Taylor also concluded there is “insufficient evidence” that the Department of Homeland Security has decided to remove Abrego Garcia to Uganda, Eswatini, or any other third country, after the DHS sent Abrego Garcia’s attorneys a notice in August saying the agency may deport their client to Uganda.

“The word ‘may’ is permissive and indicates to the Court that in sending this notification to Respondent’s counsel, the Department sought to convey that it reserved the right to remove him to Uganda, not necessarily that it intended to do so, that it had decided to do so, or that it would do so imminently,” Judge Taylor said. 

The immigration judge also said that evidence Abrego Garcia provided in his motion arguing for protection due to his fear that he will be tortured or killed  by the Salvadoran government because he’s been labeled an MS-13 gang member is “insufficient.”

Judge Taylor said that when Abrego Garcia was detained in El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, he was not subjected to “the conditions described in his country conditions evidence,” and added that Abrego Garcia indicated that he was not “specifically singled out” by CECOT guards “before his mistreatment started or while it was taking place.”

“Respondent also does not indicate that the guards made any statements or otherwise indicated that they believed him or the other deportees to be gang members, so they do not appear to have imputed MS-13 gang membership to him,” Judge Taylor said. “Notably, while prison officials interrogated Respondent about his alleged gang membership and took pictures of his tattoos, they did not mistreat him during the interrogation.”

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to CECOT, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.

He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human trafficking charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities, who have sought to deport him.

He was moved last month from a Virginia facility to a detention center in Pennsylvania.

Wednesday’s ruling came on the same day that the Department of Justice on Wednesday moved to postpone all the deadlines Abrego Garcia’s Maryland deportation case, due to the government shutdown.

An evidentiary hearing in the case had been scheduled for Monday. 

“Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said Wednesday in a court filing.

In the filing, the DOJ requested that if the motion for to stay the deadlines is granted, all current deadlines for the parties be extended “by the total number of days of the lapse in appropriations.” 

The DOJ noted that Abrego Garcia “does not consent to the stay.” 

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(NEW YORK) — As President Donald Trump calls for military intervention in cities across the nation, gun violence and major crime are at a record low in America’s largest city, the New York Police Department announced Wednesday. 

There were fewer shootings in NYC during the first nine months of the year than in the same time period of any prior year, officials said in a press release sharing third-quarter crime data.

The record-low number of shootings coincided with a broader drop in crime, including in the subways, officials said.

“The NYPD’s precision policing has delivered record-low shooting incidents and victims over the last nine months, and the safest quarter ever on our subways,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.

“This is not a coincidence — it’s the result of an unprecedented, data-driven deployment of thousands of officers to the areas they are needed most,” Tisch said.

The NYPD’s announcement comes amid Trump’s crackdown on crime in major American cities, deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Portland, with plans to expand to more “one by one.”

During an address to several hundred of the nation’s top military commanders on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his attacks on Democratic-led cities, alleging domestic crime is a “war from within.”

“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” the president said. “That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”

Breaking down the crime data from the first nine months of 2025, the NYPD reported that citywide shooting incidents are down more than 20% (553 vs. 693) to their lowest level ever, and down 15.6% (216 vs. 256) for the third quarter.

This drops marks the fewest shootings in any third quarter in recorded history, the department said, attributing it, in part, to nightly foot patrols in high-crime precincts, public housing projects and the subways.

Murders are down citywide by more than 17.7% (241 vs. 293) year-to-date and 17.5% (85 vs. 103) for the quarter, bringing them both to their second-lowest levels ever. 

Burglaries dropped 3.8% (9,410 vs. 9,783) for the year and more than 9% (3,100 vs. 3,419) in the third quarter, the second-lowest level in recorded history. 

Robberies declined 9.8% (11,402 vs. 12,639) year-to-date and more than 5% (4,166 vs. 4,396) for the quarter.

The NYPD also announced a 13% drop in rape, even after New York changed a state law to broaden the definition of rape and sexual assault in January 2024.

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(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is opposing a prosecution request to allow his former assistant — who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” — to deliver a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing on Friday.

“Simply, she is not a victim of anything,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a letter to the judge on Wednesday.

In July, a jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with another ex-girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”

Federal prosecutors conceded that “Mia” — who testified about abuse she said she suffered while working as Combs’ assistant — is not a victim of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

The defense called “Mia” a liar, saying she testified at trial “with a made up voice and demeanor” and now wants to “sully” the sentencing hearing.

“Moreover, that she is so eager to return to court, when she plainly does not have to, and is not even entitled to, puts her proffered fear of testifying at trial into clear relief. This was a show for her,” Agnifilo said.

While the music mogul was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, he was found not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge. He was also found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and “Jane.”

Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.

Federal prosecutors argue Combs deserves at least 11 years in prison, while Combs’ attorneys are seeking time served. Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.

The sentencing hearing comes after Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request to throw out his conviction on Tuesday, saying the defense arguments that prostitution requires a financial motive or participation in the sexual activity “don’t hold water.”

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(NEW YORK) — The federal government shutdown went into effect on Wednesday morning amid an impasse on Capitol Hill over competing congressional spending bills.

Here are some frequently asked questions about how a government shutdown impacts travel:

Will TSA work in a shutdown?

Transportation Security Administration workers at airport checkpoints will continue to work — without pay — during the shutdown. 

According to Department of Homeland Security documents, 58,488 employees out of the total TSA workforce of 61,475 will be retained during a shutdown. 

Will my flight get canceled?

No. Commercial flights will continue to operate and airline employees will not be impacted. 

How will air traffic controllers be impacted?

Over 13,000 air traffic controllers will continue to work — without pay — during a shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation’s shutdown plan.

Air traffic controller hiring and training would continue during a shutdown, as would air traffic control modernization, according to the DOT’s shutdown plan. 

During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, ATC training was stopped. NATCA, the union representing air traffic controllers, previously told ABC News that the shutdown in 2018-2019 “eroded critical layers of safety necessary to support and maintain the [national air space]. Many of the safety activities that proactively reduce risk and increase the safety of the system were suspended during that shutdown.”

What happened to air travel during the 2018-2019 shutdown?

During the 2018-2019 shutdown, which lasted for 35 days, TSA officers called out of work at an increased rate due to financial hardship, a TSA spokesperson told ABC News at the time. Those staffing shortages caused some TSA lines to close, which led to an increased wait time for passengers to get through security. 

ABC News reported that air traffic controllers called out sick at the centers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville, Florida, leading to a staffing-related ground stop at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and flight delays at some New York and Florida airports. Hours after flights were stopped, President Donald Trump ended the shutdown. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., credited the controllers with ending the shutdown, The New York Times reported.

What about train travel?

Amtrak said in a statement that its operations will continue as usual.

“Passengers planning to travel on Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and across the country in the coming days and weeks can be assured that Amtrak will remain open for business,” Amtrak said.

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(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — A 13-year-old girl drove drunk and crashed a stolen car while an 11-year-old was in the passenger seat, officials in Arizona said.

Both children were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the early Tuesday morning crash, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.

The joyride was reported around 1 a.m. in a car that had been stolen from the Flagstaff Police Department, DPS said.

The driver went the wrong way across the median on Interstate 40 near Flagstaff, and then self-corrected and drove off at over 100 mph, officials said.

The teenager then allegedly drove onto the guardrail, causing the car to roll over multiple times and crash into a tree, DPS said.

“The impact was so severe that the steering wheel broke off while the vehicle was rolling, and was ejected approximately 50 feet from where the vehicle landed,” the department said.

The 13-year-old’s blood alcohol concentration was recorded at 0.183, DPS said. In Arizona, drivers 21 and older can be charged with a DUI if their BAC is above .08%. Drivers under 21 must have a BAC of 0.00%.

The 13-year-old will face DUI charges, a DPS spokesperson told ABC News.

“We’re thankful the kids are okay, but this could’ve ended way worse,” DPS said in a statement. “Juvenile joyriding and underage drinking are extremely dangerous. Talk to your kids about the dangers of drinking and unlicensed driving.”

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(NEW YORK) — Since the start of Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives in 1985, over 517,000 lives have been saved from better treatment and proactive screening, according to the American Cancer Society.

“Today is a day to celebrate forty years of incredible progress in ending cancer as we know it, for everyone,” Dr. Shanti Sivendran, senior vice president of cancer care support at the American Cancer Society and medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, told ABC News.

In the 1980s in the United States, only one in four women were getting screened for breast cancer, and access to screening technology was limited, Sivendran said.

That began to change in October 1985, when the American Cancer Society partnered with other groups to launch a week-long event devoted to raising awareness about breast cancer. The campaign quickly gained momentum as more organizations joined in, and by 1990 President George H. W. Bush issued a proclamation officially designating October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

What started as a small collaboration grew into a global movement, now marked each year by millions who wear pink ribbons, participate in walks, and push for advances in research and early detection.

“After 40 years of research, technology and policy advances, we are now seeing that two out of three women are getting life-saving mammograms that are covered by their insurance, and we’ve seen a 40% reduction in mortality from breast cancer, from diligent screening, [and] from treatment advances that allow for more tailored options for patients.” Sivendran noted.

The five-year survival rate for a woman diagnosed with breast cancer has jumped up from around 75% in the early 1980s, to over 90% in the past few years. Researchers estimate that advances in screening account for about one-quarter of the drop in breast cancer deaths, while improved treatments are responsible for the other three-quarters.

“There have been great strides in breast cancer treatments from less extensive breast surgery to more targeted radiation, and the explosion of new drugs that are more specific for the different subtypes of breast cancer.” Dr. Katherine Crew, breast medical oncologist and director of the clinical breast cancer prevention program at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told ABC News.

Between 2000 and 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved more than two dozen drugs to treat breast cancer, many designed to target a specific biomarker in the tumor. Experts liken these markers to fingerprints that can help doctors match each patient with the treatment most likely to work for them, making care more precise and personalized than ever before.

But not everyone has benefited from these strides equally.

As Crew noted, “While we have made great progress in improving breast cancer screening and treatment leading to improved survival, there have also been widening disparities in breast cancer outcomes, with Black women having higher breast cancer mortality compared to their White counterparts.”

White women with breast cancer have the highest five-survival rate at around 93%. But this dropped to 84% for black women. While black women were more likely to die from any kind of breast cancer, for certain types of breast cancer black women had up to a 50% higher risk of dying than their white counterparts. While there are multiple factors behind these differences, Crew stressed the need to better address these health disparities.

Sivendran said the past 40 years of Breast Cancer Awareness show how a movement can save lives, but she stressed that the work is far from over and urged people to carry forward the progress made over the last four decades.

“Go out there and take action. Get your screening mammogram, understand your risk, invest in cancer research,” she said. “And together, we’re going to continue to make advances over the next 40 years.”

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — An Iowa superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week will resign, his attorney said Tuesday.

Ian Roberts, 54, announced his immediate resignation as superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in a letter released through his attorney on Tuesday.

“Out of concern for his 30,000 students, Dr. Roberts does not want to distract the Board, educators, and staff from focusing on educating DMPS’s students,” the letter to the Des Moines School Board stated.

The letter will be sent to the board on Tuesday, according to Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish.

Roberts was detained on Friday, with ICE saying he is in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having “a final order of removal and no work authorization.”

On Monday, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts’ administrator license. The Des Moines School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to put him on unpaid administrative leave and gave his attorney until noon Tuesday to provide proof that he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination.  

Parrish said his office on Monday filed a motion in immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to stay the educator’s order of removal.

“This is a very complex case,” Parrish said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “It’s complex, it’s difficult and there are a lot of what I would call a myriad of issues that are involved.” 

“What I would do is encourage people, as they review this case, to be patient, to take it a step at a time,” he added.

Parrish also shared a letter with reporters purportedly sent from Roberts’ previous attorney in Texas in March, stating that his immigration case “has reached a successful resolution” and was closed. The letter did not contain any further details on the resolution. 

Parrish said his office plans to file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case on Tuesday.

Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999 and a judge gave him a “final order of removal” in May 2024, ICE said in a statement.

Roberts joined the Des Moines district in July 2023 and had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for 20 years, according to school board chair Jackie Norris.

Norris said during Monday’s school board meeting that the board received documentation from the Department of Homeland Security that day indicating Roberts is an unauthorized worker in the U.S. It also received documentation of Roberts’ final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, she said.

The board was not aware of Roberts’ immigration issues at the time of his hiring, according to Norris, who said the board is taking ICE’s allegations “very seriously.”

“I want to be clear, at no point was any DMPS employee or board member notified that Dr. Roberts was not eligible to work by a federal agency or Dr. Roberts,” Norris said.

Norris said when Roberts applied for the superintendent position, he stated that he was a citizen and provided a driver’s license and a Social Security card as documentation. A law firm reviewed the information presented by Roberts and did not raise any concerns about his eligibility to work, she said.

Asked how Roberts had a social security number, Parrish said he didn’t want to respond, though went on to say, “As you may or may not know, certain people coming into this country are entitled to get a Social Security number.”

“That’s not our concern at the moment,” he added.

When Roberts was taken into custody on Friday, he was in possession of a loaded handgun and $3,000 in cash, ICE said.

Asked about the allegation of the loaded firearm, Parrish said he also could not comment on the facts of that, though he went on to say Roberts was in the military in Guyana and “led some of the most difficult raids on the biggest criminals.”

“In doing that type of work, he was a target, on some occasions, to be taken out by the cartel,” Parrish said.

According to the ICE detainee locator, Roberts is currently being held at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, Iowa. He is in “good spirits,” Parrish said.

“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves, and the students who love him back,” Parrish said.

Meanwhile, Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn said Tuesday a “state-level investigation” into Roberts’ hiring is underway.

“Local leaders owe parents an explanation, and we need stronger safeguards to ensure that positions of public trust are filled by individuals who are properly vetted and legally authorized to serve,” he said in a statement.

The firm that performed the background check on Roberts prior to his hiring by Des Moines Public Schools told ABC News it was “not contracted to perform I-9 or work eligibility verification.” 

“By standard practice, the employer is solely responsible for completing I-9 verification and determining employment eligibility,” Baker-Eubanks CEO Kim Cockerham said in a statement.

“We identified and disclosed all publicly available criminal records at that time, and those findings were provided to J.G. Consulting, the executive search firm, which then shared the information with its client, the Des Moines School District. The District ultimately chose to proceed with the hire despite having received the disclosed criminal record information,” Cockerham said.

Roberts has weapon possession charges from February 2020, according to ICE.

Prior to serving as superintendent in Des Moines, Roberts was superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania from August 2020 through June 2023.

The Millcreek Township School District said in a statement Monday that Roberts went through an FBI background check, completed I-9 eligibility forms and supplied documentation to support his eligibility to work. The district said it “never received any information or notification regarding the expiration of Dr. Roberts’ work authorization” and called reports of his detention “deeply concerning.”

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