A Kansas town has been thrown into turmoil after the state's hardline anti-immigration attorney general charged its newly re-elected mayor with voter fraud.
Joe Ceballos came to Coldwater from Mexico decades ago as a teenage ranch hand, and a teacher at his high school took him to the county courthouse when he turned 18 and helped him register for the draft and to vote. He was hired by the city as a young man and eventually ran for city council and then mayor, reported the Washington Post.
"But the day after he was reelected mayor, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) said Ceballos had illegally voted in three elections, starting in 2022, charging him with voter fraud and perjury — felonies that could strip him of his elected office and land him in prison for years," the newspaper reported. "It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in Kansas and in all but a small number of localities across the United States."
"Ceballos has been voting regularly as a registered Republican since 2020, according to the Comanche County clerk’s office," the report added. "He could be deported after more than four decades in the country if convicted. He hasn’t entered a plea."
Residents of the town, which has fewer than 1,000 residents and a paltry city budget, expressed support and appreciation for Ceballos, and some of them complained that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was using their town for his own political gain.
“I’m all for closing our borders, I’m all for legal immigration," said Terry Abel, who's known Ceballos for years. "I’m a Republican at heart, I love President Trump."
Abel's 15-year-old son Gabe reported seeing hateful comments about Ceballos that reduced the issue to complaints that a Mexican immigrant had not only been voting in Coldwater, but also holding elected office, but he said the situation was more complex.
“They’re like, ‘Deport him,’ and all that stuff – it’s just awful,” said Abel, who is friends with one of Ceballos’s grandsons. “If you really know him, and you know the situation, you would know he definitely didn’t mean to do a bunch of crimes. He’s a really good dude."
An attorney for the 54-year-old Ceballos told the Post that he didn't realize he wasn't allowed to vote and intended to fight the charges, although he would step away from his mayoral duties “for the sake of the people of Coldwater.”
“He thought he was an American," said attorney Jess Hoeme. "He’s always been an American. The technicality of citizenship perhaps has escaped him."
Ceballos was granted a green card in 1990 but did not apply for citizenship until this February, and even Coldwater residents who voted for Kobach in the past said he was making a mistake by prosecuting him.
“He wasn’t here with a hand out,” said resident Allen Davis. “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.”
“I think somebody is probably trying to make a name for themselves as a politician,” Davis added.
