ABC News reported late last week that the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools was detained by ICE agents for being an illegal alien with "a final order of removal and no work authorization."

Fifty-four-year-old Ian Roberts has since announced his resignation as the Trump administration seeks to remove him. 

Attorney says Roberts' case is "very complex"

According to ABC News, Roberts signaled his attention to step down as superintendent via a letter which was sent by his attorney to the Des Moines School Board 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 read.

"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," the lawyer continued.

Roberts was found with weapons and $3000 in cash

When asked how his clients had managed to obtain a social security number, Parrish was reluctant to provide much in the way of details.

"As you may or may not know, certain people coming into this country are entitled to get a Social Security number," he pointed out.

What's more, Parrish presented a letter which he claimed had been written by Roberts' previous attorney asserting that the former superintendent had "reached a successful resolution" in his immigration case.

The network stated that he arrived in the U.S. on a student visa from Guyana in 1999 and had held high-level positions at various school boards for much of the past two decades.

School board chair: Roberts claimed to a be a citizen

Jackie Norris serves as chair of the Des Moines School Board, and she insisted that Roberts purported to be a U.S. citizen and provided a social security and driver's license.

What's more, Norris maintained that a law firm had been hired to review Roberts' documentation and found no cause for concern.

"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," the school board chair was quoted as saying.