DES MOINES, Iowa — Former DMPS Superintendent Ian Roberts is still behind bars, being held on a federal firearm offense while not being a legal citizen.

Roberts’ attorney Alfredo Parrish said last week his firm is moving to reopen his immigration case in Omaha, while also defending his client on the firearm charge. Parrish mentioned last week the potential concern of Roberts being deported before an action on the motion, or the firearm case is resolved.

A local immigration attorney in Des Moines has vast experience in the field. James Benzoni, an attorney at Benzoni & Maffitt Law Office talked with WHO 13 News on Wednesday. He outlined a possible timeline for when to expect closure on the firearm charge, while indicating the optics of deporting Roberts before that case is closed wouldn’t be a good look.

“It seems because of the publicity of this case and the fact it’s happening here in Iowa and I don’t think anybody is really challenging ICE directly on it (Roberts’ arrest),” said Benzoni. “This is just my guess sitting here, it’ll [ the federal firearm charge] probably go through the regular criminal process and enter a resolution of some sort. I don’t see them cutting short the federal criminal judge to ship him out, because I think that would raise too many questions about the legitimacy of their overall case.”

Benzoni said that from his experience in immigration law, he has seen a lot of deportations in the middle of a DUI charge for a client. Outside of that pattern he said he recognized, it is open-ended as to what the federal authorities may decide.

As far as the motion to reopen the immigration case for Roberts, there are different avenues the federal government could go down. The obvious is keeping it closed. Benzoni added that there are some legal arguments that could be presented on Roberts’ behalf to get it reopened. One would be an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. That means that Roberts’ current legal team could argue Roberts’ prior attorney that handled his immigration case was not up to the legal standard.

Benzoni has not discussed with Parrish or any of the attorneys at the firm, but shared how he views the facts that are out in the public.