DES MOINES, Iowa — Federal immigration agents targeted the well-liked leader of Iowa’s largest school district in a traffic stop Friday and arrested him after he fled into the woods, leaving educators and community members stunned.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Roberts was in the country illegally and had no work authorization. Roberts, who is from Guyana in South America, was considered an ICE fugitive because he was subject to a final removal order issued in 2024, the agency said.

ICE said that it targeted Roberts for arrest by initiating a traffic stop on Friday while he was driving in his school-issued vehicle. After he fled, officers discovered his vehicle abandoned near a wooded area. He was eventually located and taken into ICE custody with the help of Iowa State Patrol officers. It is unclear where Roberts was being held Friday afternoon or if he had an attorney to represent him.

Phil Roeder, the district’s spokesperson, said he was supposed to meet Roberts at a school event Friday morning, but Roberts sent a text saying he could not make it. Roeder said he got a video call from Roberts soon after and watched officials detain him.

Roeder told The Associated Press that the district has seen “nothing that would suggest that he’s not a citizen.” The district said Friday afternoon that a third party was hired to conduct a comprehensive background check on Roberts and that Roberts completed an I-9, which requires workers to present documents showing that they were authorized to work. District officials also stated they had no knowledge of an order of removal issued in 2024.

Roberts, who has described himself as a longtime gun owner and hunter, was in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed-blade hunting knife when arrested, ICE said.

“This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats,” ICE enforcement and removal operations regional official Sam Olson said in a statement