The former mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, who admitted last month to participating in illegal voting, has now turned himself in to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Jose Ceballos Armendariz, a green card holder from Mexico, appeared at the ICE office in Wichita and is currently being held in a detention center in Chase County.
“I really don’t know what’s next,” Ceballos said outside the facility. “No idea where they’ll take me or what I can expect there.”
Ceballos, who served two terms as mayor, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of election fraud. The prosecution was led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. He obtained his green card in 1990 and applied for U.S. citizenship earlier this year, but he also has a prior battery conviction dating back to 1995.
Interestingly, Ceballos allegedly misrepresented himself on his voter registration, claiming to be a U.S. citizen. He mentioned that he believed being a lawful permanent resident granted him the right to vote, stating that he felt “misled” about the plea deal.
“We’ll follow the procedure,” he said. “One step at a time, we’ll do what they require. That’s my focus.”
Lauren Biss, Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, emphasized the importance of the SAVE America Act. This legislation aims to enforce documentation requirements for U.S. citizenship during voter registration. Biss pointed out that the integrity of elections is paramount and that more than 24,000 cases of potential non-citizens on voter rolls have been flagged since April 2025.
Ceballos’ lawyer shared that he had come to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of four. During a school trip, he was encouraged to register to vote when he turned 18. “We assumed our system would be better than this,” the attorney remarked, expressing disappointment in how the situation has unfolded.
