Joe Ceballos, the small-town mayor who held office and voted without being a U.S. citizen, hoped that pleading guilty to misdemeanors would allow him to move forward with the life he built for decades in Coldwater, Kan.
After he was sentenced to probation last month, Mr. Ceballos expressed optimism that “this is all behind us now.” Perhaps, he said, he might even become a citizen someday.
But Mr. Ceballos, a green card holder whose case drew the attention of the Trump administration, was detained on Wednesday at a federal office building in Wichita, according to his lawyer, Sarah L. Balderas. She said he handed over his phone to an officer and was led to a detention area.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately answer questions about the case. But as of Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Ceballos was listed online as being in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Kansas jail that contracts with the agency. The federal government can seek to deport green card holders who are convicted of certain crimes.
Ms. Balderas said she believed the government wants to have Mr. Ceballos deported, and that she expected him to soon receive a notice to appear in immigration court.
She said her client intended to fight deportation and would seek to be released on bond while his case played out. Mr. Ceballos’s character, his ties to his community and the decades he has spent in the United States could all weigh in his favor, she said.
“Typically, when someone admits to doing these things, it’s not good,” Ms. Balderas said. “But it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. There’s still the chance that the immigration judge will let him stay.”
Mr. Ceballos, 55, was born in Mexico, but he had been a fixture in Coldwater since he was a teenager. He attended the local high school, raised a family and worked at the utility company. He also registered to vote, cast ballots for Republican candidates and was twice elected mayor of Coldwater, population 700.
Mr. Ceballos was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, but he was not a citizen. Because of that, it was illegal for him to vote, a fact Mr. Ceballos has said he did not know.
On Election Day last fall, Mr. Ceballos’s neighbors re-elected him in a landslide. That same week, the Kansas attorney general’s office charged him with several election-related felonies that carried the potential of years in prison.
Mr. Ceballos resigned as mayor and soon became a face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on voter fraud. News outlets across the state and country picked up the story. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security vowed that the government would seek his removal from the country if he was convicted.
Mr. Ceballos’s neighbors rallied to his defense. They packed the courtroom for his court appearances, attested to his character in letters to the editor and planted yard signs expressing their support. Many in the overwhelmingly Republican town voiced frustrations with Republican officials who used the case to make political points.
When he pleaded guilty in state court last month to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly election conduct, there was a sense in Coldwater that Mr. Ceballos would be able to stay. When the hearing ended with no jail time being ordered, his neighbors applauded.
“That’s perfectly fine in this court because I do think that’s justice,” the judge said as the clapping died down.
The sense of relief proved short-lived.
A few days after the hearing, homeland security officials sent out another news release about Mr. Ceballos, which also noted his 1995 conviction for battery.
Lauren Bis, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said in the release that “this alien has now been convicted” and that “our elections belong to American citizens, not foreign citizens.”
In recent days, Ms. Balderas said her client received a “call-in letter” from federal officials that asked him to report to Wichita for “processing.”
Mr. Ceballos arranged for a ride on Wednesday for the two-hour trek to Wichita from Coldwater — away from the pasture where he raises cattle and the house where he lives with his wife and the City Hall where he once presided over council meetings.
He hoped that he would be able to return.
“He’s worried about his family, but he understands what’s going on,” Ms. Balderas said. “And honestly, I think he’s ready to fight.”
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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