A conservative legal group is preparing for a potential court battle after a Maryland county released heavily redacted voter registration records belonging to an illegal immigrant who once ran Iowa’s largest school district.
According to Fox News, Justin Riemer, CEO and president of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE), said the documents released by the Prince George’s County Board of Elections were so redacted they “shocked” him.
“This was shocking,” Riemer told Fox News Digital in a Friday interview. “When I saw the news reporting, and they showed screenshots of the registration applications with all this information redacted, I was just shocked.”
At the center of the dispute is Ian Andre Roberts, a Guyana native who entered the United States in 1994. Roberts served as superintendent of the Des Moines public school system until Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in September. He had been working without legal authorization since his employment permit expired in 2020.
Roberts’ arrest quickly drew national attention, not just because of his position, but because investigative reports found he was registered as a Democratic voter in Maryland, where he previously lived. The Maryland State Board of Elections said he did not cast ballots, but the discovery raised immediate questions for conservatives.
As details emerged, so did Roberts’ extensive criminal history. The Department of Homeland Security said his record includes a 1996 drug charge in New York, a later vehicle-related charge in Queens, a 2012 reckless driving conviction in Maryland, and recent weapons offenses in Pennsylvania. When he was arrested in September, DHS said he attempted to flee and was found carrying $3,000 in cash, a Glock 9mm, and a hunting knife. He now faces federal firearms charges.
In response to growing scrutiny, the American Accountability Foundation requested Roberts’ voter registration application from Prince George’s County. The county released the documents, but redacted key information, including his sex, date of birth, and whether he checked the citizenship box.
Riemer, who represents both RITE and AAF, said the county had no legal basis for blocking out that information.
“The American Accountability Foundation called the county out on it and said, ‘… you’re not allowed to redact this information,’” he explained. He acknowledged that personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers should be protected, but argued that other blocked details should be publicly accessible under the National Voter Registration Act.
RITE posted copies of the documents, which contained 18 separate redactions across only two pages. Riemer then sent a letter to the county board demanding corrected records by Dec. 1.
“Please provide my clients with the records no later than Monday, December 1, 2025,” the letter stated. “If you redact or withhold any portion of the requested records beyond the limited exceptions above, we will immediately follow up with a written notice of your violation… If you do not remedy such violation within 90 days, my clients will sue you.”
He said he has not yet heard back from the board and expects the county is consulting with state officials.
Riemer pointed out that RITE successfully sued Maryland earlier this year over similar transparency issues. “They just continuously are doing these practices that are not transparent, they’re not what federal law requires, it’s not what the public deserves,” he said.
He also argued that the Roberts case undercuts claims that concerns about non-citizens on voter rolls are exaggerated.
“We know it happens in the thousands,” he said. “Oregon, for example, reported registering a couple thousand non-citizens through their DMV.”
Roberts is now in U.S. Marshals’ custody, his Iowa superintendent license has been revoked, and he awaits prosecution on multiple federal charges.
