Maryland county heavily redacts illegal alien’s voter registration docs

A authorized battle is underway over a Maryland election board’s heavy redaction of the voter registration of an unlawful immigrant who served as superintendent of Iowa’s largest faculty system till he was arrested by federal authorities this yr, Fox Information Digital has discovered.

“This was surprising,” Justin Riemer, CEO and president of the conservative authorized group Restoring Integrity and Belief in Elections (RITE), informed Fox Information Digital in a Zoom interview on Friday. “Once I noticed the information reviews and so they confirmed screenshots of the registration functions with all this info redacted, I used to be simply shocked.”

Riemer was responding to the Prince George’s County’s Board of Elections’ current launch of voter registration paperwork of unlawful alien Ian Andre Roberts, together with the misappropriation of Roberts’ intercourse, whether or not he had checked the citizenship field, his date of delivery and different info. The election legal professional represents RITE and the conservative analysis group the American Accountability Basis (AAF) of their efforts to obtain voter registration paperwork with fewer redactions.

Roberts, who’s initially from Guyana and first entered the U.S. in 1994, was working because the superintendent of the Des Moines Public College District when Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in September. Roberts was legally barred from working within the nation after a piece allow card expired in 2020, Fox Information Digital beforehand reported.

SCHOOL CHIEF SUSPECTS: ICE ARREST OF DES MOINES SUPERINTENDENT REVEALS FAKE DEGREES AND DRUG CONVICTIONS

Former Des Moines Police Chief Ian Andre Roberts, who was detained by ICE in September. (Polk County Sheriff)

The arrest of an unlawful immigrant working in such a distinguished place shocked conservatives and others. Further particulars surrounding his prolonged felony file emerged as journalists and different researchers appeared into his historical past. It was quickly found that he was listed as a registered Democratic voter in Maryland, the place he beforehand lived, and that he had been convicted of reckless driving in 2012, the Division of Homeland Safety stated in October.

The Maryland State Board of Elections beforehand stated Roberts didn’t vote in elections.

“I am an election legislation knowledgeable, not an immigration knowledgeable, but it surely would not take one to see how … damaged the system has been,” Riemer informed Fox Digital. “He has a number of felony prices. He has labored in a number of faculty districts the place, in the event that they have been doing the correct citizenship and work allow checks, this could have been caught. It is actually unbelievable how this man has managed to leap throughout the nation and work in class districts the place he’s round youngsters.”

FORMER SUPERINTENDENT OF DES MOINES SCHOOLS TAKEN INTO DOJ CUSTODY ON FEDERAL FIREARMS, IMMIGRATION TAXES

As considerations grew about Roberts, the American Accountability Basis filed a public data request with Prince George’s County to acquire his voter registration utility. The county elections board complied with the request however redacted key info, resulting in what might flip right into a authorized showdown.

“The American Accountability Basis has taken the county to activity on this and stated, ‘… you aren’t allowed to redact this info,'” Riemer stated, including that it’s comprehensible for the county to redact info resembling an individual’s Social Safety quantity or driver’s license quantity, however not an individual’s gender or whether or not she or he answered affirmatively that she or he is a U.S. citizen.

RITE printed copies of the redacted paperwork, which present 18 black bins blocking info on simply two pages of paperwork. Riemer defined that the request was made beneath the Nationwide Voter Registration Act – a federal legislation that simplified voter registration processes when an eligible individual renews their driver’s license – which incorporates a provision permitting public entry to such information.

Riemer despatched a letter to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections on Tuesday, demanding that the county flip over the paperwork to his purchasers with fewer redactions as allowed by legislation. The election legal professional, who beforehand served as chief counsel to the Republican Nationwide Committee, gave the county board till Dec. 1, noting that authorized motion could possibly be taken sooner or later if the board of elections fails to conform.

LAWMAKER REVEALS HOW DES MOINES SCHOOLS CHIEF REGISTERED TO VOTE DESPITE ILLEGAL STATUS

Republicans say the registration of unlawful alien Ian Andre Roberts in Maryland raises critical considerations concerning the state’s voting processes. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photograph and ICE)

“Present the data to my purchasers no later than Monday, December 1, 2025. In the event you redact or withhold any portion of the requested data, topic to the restricted exceptions above, we’ll promptly adjust to written discover of your violation of 52 USC § 20507(i). In the event you fail to treatment such violation inside 90 days, my purchasers will sue you within the federal district courtroom of Maryland and acquire cheap attorneys’ charges, prices, and different prices,” writes Riemer within the letter to the province election commission declared.

Riemer stated he has not but heard from the board of elections and speculated that the county board is in the course of discussions with the state board of elections and the legal professional basic’s workplace about subsequent steps.

“In the event that they seen that restoring the integrity and belief in elections was a part of this effort to acquire this info, they need to have finished that, as a result of we sued Maryland final yr for violating the Nationwide Voter Registration Act for proscribing public entry to registration information, simply as they do right here, and received that lawsuit in March. And they also regularly do these practices that aren’t clear, that is not what federal legislation requires, it isn’t what the general public deserves,” he added.

Fox Information Digital reached out to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections Friday afternoon for touch upon the letter and redactions, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.

DEMOCRATS ARE SILENT ABOUT ILLEGAL ALIEN REGISTERED TO VOTE IN BLUE STATE

In keeping with DHS, Roberts was criminally charged on October 2 with being an unlawful alien in possession of firearms. (John Moore/Getty Photos)

Riemer stated the case is one in every of many displaying that considerations concerning the position of noncitizens within the voter rolls aren’t “political theater,” as Democrats have claimed, amid conservatives nationwide rallying behind stricter voter integrity legal guidelines.

“We all know it is taking place within the hundreds. For instance, Oregon reported registering just a few thousand non-citizens by means of their DMV,” he stated.

Roberts was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals after his arrest in September and can face prices, DHS stated in October. The federal company launched the suspect’s lengthy historical past of run-ins with the legislation courting again to 1996, when he was charged with felony possession of narcotics with intent to promote in New York, a cost of third-degree unauthorized use of a automobile in Queens, New York, in 1998 that was later dropped, and the 2012 conviction for reckless driving in Maryland.

Extra not too long ago, Roberts was indicted in 2020 on second-degree felony possession of a weapon and different weapons prices, and in 2022 he was convicted in Pennsylvania of illegal possession of a loaded firearm.

Roberts now additionally faces prices in connection along with his September arrest wherein he tried to flee legislation enforcement, in keeping with DHS. He was discovered to be in possession of $3,000 in money, a Glock 9mm pistol and a searching knife on the time of his arrest. In keeping with DHS, Roberts was criminally charged on October 2 with being an unlawful alien in possession of firearms.

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The Iowa Board of Academic Examiners revoked Roberts’ license after his arrest and he’s not allowed to function a superintendent within the state.