Ex-mayor in Kansas is in the custody of immigration authorities
Joe Ceballos, the former mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, was taken into custody Wednesday by U.S. immigration authorities after acknowledging that he voted in elections despite not being a U.S. citizen, his attorney said. Ceballos, a legal permanent resident who was born in Mexico, was detained during a meeting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Wichita, according to his lawyer, Jess Hoeme.
Hoeme said Ceballos now fears he could be deported. An email seeking comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.
Ceballos resigned as mayor of Coldwater in December while facing state charges over voting as a noncitizen. Hoeme said Ceballos has acknowledged that during a 2025 interview while seeking citizenship, he admitted he had voted and did so without knowing that green card holders do not qualify to vote in U.S. elections.
The immigration custody comes after Ceballos reached a state plea agreement. Hoeme said Ceballos pleaded guilty in April to misdemeanors in a deal with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and he described the misdemeanor to which Ceballos pleaded guilty as similar to disturbing the peace. Hoeme also said Ceballos has not been convicted of voter fraud and that the outcome should not have affected his immigration status.
During Wednesday’s detention, people in the community showed support. Supporters held signs reading “We Support Mayor Joe” and “ICE Out” as Ceballos walked into the federal building in Wichita, and crowds at the scene chanted “Let Joe go!” Ceballos told reporters he was “obviously nervous,” adding: “Thinking what could happen — it’s just kind of crazy.” He said he did not know what would happen or where he would be taken.
In his comments, Hoeme said the federal government’s stance has been harsher than the state case. He said: “The Trump administration and ICE have doubled down on nonsense that he is a criminal.”
Hoeme said the next step for Ceballos’s lawyers would be to seek release from an immigration judge on bond. He added that Ceballos came to the United States from Mexico when he was 4 years old, after family brought him, and that, at age 18, Ceballos said he was encouraged to register to vote on the spot during a school field trip to the Comanche County courthouse.
Hoeme said Ceballos has previously told reporters that he voted for Republicans. Hoeme also said Ceballos was twice elected mayor of Coldwater, a town of about 700 people, and served on the city council. Ceballos won another term in November but resigned after Kansas charged him in connection with voting without being qualified and election perjury; supporters in Coldwater had rallied behind him, including after an advertisement in The Western Star encouraged people to support him.
The case intersects with broader political and enforcement efforts tied to voting by noncitizens. The Associated Press reported that Trump and other Republicans have warned about the dangers of noncitizens voting since early in the 2024 presidential election, while research—including by Republican election officials—shows the problem is rare. Trump has also urged Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which among other things would require documented proof of U.S. citizenship to register and vote, and the administration has expanded a Homeland Security program used by at least 25 states to check their voter rolls.
A longtime friend of Ceballos, Ryan Swayze, told KAKE-TV that Ceballos “is kind of got to live the American dream, to come from absolutely nothing and build up — I don’t know about wealth — but to build up a business and have a job and be a productive part of society.”