Joe Ceballos was thrust into public scrutiny by state and federal authorities last year as an alleged criminal who threatened the integrity of American elections. The Department of Homeland Security vowed to deport Ceballos, a green card holder from Mexico and two-time elected mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, if he was convicted of election fraud for voting as a noncitizen.
The case against him ended Monday in cheers and a standing ovation in the courtroom as Ceballos pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges, avoiding jail time.
Sidney Thomas, the judge on the case, joined in the applause, according to Ceballos’s attorney, Jess Hoeme, and video from the courtroom.
“I do think that’s justice,” Thomas said after adjourning.
Ceballos, 55, pleaded guilty to three counts of disorderly election conduct and received a $2,000 fine and a suspended six-month jail sentence. He will serve a year of probation, according to his plea agreement. Prosecutors dropped the felony charges of election perjury and voting without being qualified they had initially levied against him.
Hoeme said the resolution was a vindication for Ceballos, who maintained he’d made an honest mistake in voting as a green card holder, and for residents in Coldwater who opposed the vilification of a well-liked mayor. The support for Ceballos cut across party lines in a Republican town Hoeme said generally supports President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.
“I think what happened is these immigration policies and these ideas about immigration hit home, and people realized, ‘Hey, this isn’t what we were signing up for,’” Hoeme said.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) said in a statement that Ceballos’s case “demonstrates the very real personal and community consequences of having no citizenship verification at the time of registration or indeed at any point in the voting process.”
“Every case is considered individually and in Mr. Ceballos case, a plea is in the public’s best interest,” Kobach said.
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will follow through on threats to deport Ceballos. Hoeme said the misdemeanors Ceballos pleaded guilty to should not warrant deportation. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
“The Attorney General’s Office has no role in Mr. Ceballos’s citizenship, residence, or deportation proceedings,” Kobach said in his statement.
Ceballos arrived in Coldwater as a teenage ranch hand and registered for the draft and to vote at 18 with the help of a high school teacher, The Washington Post reported in November. Ceballos received a green card in 1990. He has voted regularly as a registered Republican since 2020, according to the Comanche County clerk’s office.
Ceballos became a fixture in Coldwater, residents previously told The Post. He ran for city council in 2011 and continued to hold public office for over a decade, winning election as mayor in 2021 and earning praise for his management of the small town of around 700.
“This is the guy that puts up the Christmas tree in the city square at Christmas time,” Hoeme said. “This is the guy that puts all the Memorial Day flags on the light poles in town. He has really done everything for this community that he can.”
Kobach announced the charges against Ceballos in November, the day after he was reelected mayor, upending the tight-knit community in Coldwater. He faced prison time for the initial felony charges, and DHS issued a news release vowing to deport him if convicted.
Residents told The Post those punishments did not square with their image of the mayor. Several people interviewed said they believed Ceballos should not have been punished for a mistake, and some felt Kobach was prosecuting the mayor to score political points.
Supporters of Ceballos packed the courtroom on Monday, Hoeme said, and lined up to embrace him after the hearing.
Hoeme said that Ceballos, who resigned as mayor after being charged, plans to complete an application for U.S. citizenship he began last year and would consider running again for mayor.
“He said he would love to serve, if the city would have him, and I’m certain they would,” Hoeme said.
The post Once accused of election fraud, former small-town mayor leaves court to applause appeared first on Washington Post.
