The registered Republican mayor of a small Kansas town is facing deportation for allegedly illegally voting in three elections.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach accused Coldwater Mayor Joe Ceballos, a green card holder from Mexico, of the deeds earlier this month.
If convicted in the case, Ceballos could be deported after more than four decades living in the United States. He would also lose his status as the town’s mayor and could be imprisoned for years.
Ceballos has yet to enter a plea.
Kobach announced the charges right after Ceballos was reelected for a second term. Ceballos faces three counts of voting without being qualified and three counts of election perjury.
“In Kansas, it is against the law to vote if you are not a U.S. citizen. We allege that Mr. Ceballos did it multiple times,” Kobach said. “Voting by noncitizens, including both legal and illegal aliens, is a very real problem. It happens. Every time a noncitizen votes, it effectively cancels out a U.S. citizen’s vote.”
The Coldwater mayor’s attorney, Jess Hoeme, told the Washington Post that Ceballos did not realize he was not allowed to vote and will fight the charges.
“He thought he was an American. He’s always been an American. The technicality of citizenship perhaps has escaped him,” Hoeme said.
While Ceballos has a green card, he didn’t apply for citizenship until February, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS revealed a voter registration application in which Ceballos claimed to be a U.S. citizen, however he did not claim to be a citizen on his naturalization application. They also said Ceballos was convicted of battery in 1995.
“This alien committed a felony by voting in American elections. If convicted, he will be placed in removal proceedings. President Trump and Secretary Noem gave states access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“The SAVE program is a critical tool for state and local governments to safeguard the integrity of elections across the country. Our elections belong to American citizens, not foreign citizens,” she added.
Local residents endorsed Ceballos’s character and criticized Kobach for prosecuting him.
“People run for office in a town like Coldwater out of concern for the community,” TruDee Little, the former Coldwater city clerk, said. She added that he was an honest and sincere man.
Allen Davis told the outlet that allowing noncitizens to vote would be “a devastation to this country,” but that he believes Ceballos made a mistake.
“He wasn’t here with a hand out,” Davis said. “A lot of them that come today come here for the benefits they can get, for the goodies and the handouts. He wasn’t that man.”
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“I think somebody is probably trying to make a name for themselves as a politician,” he added.
Ceballos’s first court appearance is set for Dec. 3, and he is stepping away from his mayoral duties in the meantime.
