VDH | An Illegal Alien Climbed to the Top of the School Board—Until ICE Caught Him

Ian Roberts, the superintendent of Des Moines, Iowa, boasted an impressive résumé—complete with a supposed doctor of education degree.

But what truly stood out was how Roberts managed to advance his career on a résumé filled with false information. What was real, however, was his record: He was living in the U.S. illegally, had an active deportation order, and had a prior weapons charge.

How did a man with fake degrees, false citizenship claims, and a criminal record end up leading an entire school district? Victor Davis Hanson says the answer lies in the dangers of DEI on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”

“ Why would a sophisticated city and a sophisticated school district hire someone without specifying his citizen status or his degrees? And the answer was: He was a diversity, equity, and inclusion candidate. He was a charismatic, apparently, they thought, black American. This was mostly a white city. It had large minority population. They felt it would be a goodwill gesture to hire the first African American—although he was not an African American, he was a citizen of a foreign country. And he was here illegally. But nevertheless, they thought that would be reflecting on their goodwill, their sensitivity, their liberality. “