The beloved former mayor of a conservative Kansas town reported to a federal immigration office Wednesday, a possible step toward deportation, months after acknowledging he had voted in elections despite not being a U.S. citizen.
Joe Ceballos, 55, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by family when he was 4, is a legal permanent resident. While seeking citizenship in 2025, he admitted during an interview that he had voted, apparently not knowing his status does not allow it, his lawyer said.
The government’s response to that interview, as well as the actions of Kansas authorities, landed Ceballos in court and on a path to possible deportation.
“Thinking what could happen — it’s just kind of crazy,” Ceballos, the former mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, told reporters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Wichita.
“Obviously nervous. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he added. “I don’t know where they’re going to take me and what I can and can’t do inside there.”
