Former Mayor Who Pleaded Guilty To Illegal Voting Turns Himself In To ICE

A small town mayor from Kansas has turned himself into ICE.

Former Coldwater, Kansas, mayor Jose Ceballos-Armendariz has turned himself in to ICE for being in the country illegally.

The move by the mayor comes just a month after he pleaded guilty to illegally voting.

Fox News provided a more in-depth report on Ceballos-Armendariz’s legal problems:

The former mayor of a small Kansas town who pleaded guilty last month in connection with illegally voting in several elections turned himself in to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday.

Jose Ceballos-Armendariz, a Mexican green card holder, appeared at the ICE office in Wichita, FOX4KC reported. He is being held in the ICE’s detention facility in Chase County.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Ceballos said outside the facility. “I don’t know where they’re going to take me and what I can and can’t do inside there.”

Ceballos, who formerly served as mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, for two terms, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of disorderly election conduct following a prosecution by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office.

He was issued a green card in 1990 and applied for U.S. citizenship in February. Ceballos also has a prior conviction for battery from 1995.

The Comanche County clerk’s office revealed that Ceballos has been a registered Republican since 2020 and, as a mayor, was nonpartisan.

The DHS has since released the following photo of the former mayor:

BREAKING: Jose Ceballos-Armendariz, the Mexican national and former Kansas Mayor convicted of ILLEGALLY voting in multiple U.S. elections, has been detained by ICE pic.twitter.com/cCkuK5bmKV

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 14, 2026

The DHS shared how Ceballos’s illegal status was discovered through their new SAVE tool:

Following prosecution from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, Ceballos pled guilty to three counts of Disorderly Election Conduct.

This is not the first time Ceballos broke our nation’s laws. In 1995, he was convicted of battery.

Ceballos was granted a green card in 1990. He applied for U.S. citizenship in February 2025.

“This alien has now been convicted of illegally voting in American elections,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

“The SAVE program is a critical tool for state and local governments to safeguard the integrity of elections across the country. President Trump has been unequivocal:

Nothing is more fundamental than the integrity and security of our elections. That’s why the Trump Administration has repeatedly called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act — commonsense legislation that requires voters to present photo ID and implements other critical measures to protect federal elections from fraud. Our elections belong to American citizens, not foreign citizens.”

Since April 2025, more than 24,000 cases have been identified by SAVE as potential non-U.S. citizens who were on voter rolls, and those cases have been referred to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for further investigation. Over the past year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has overhauled the SAVE program, making it fully operational and providing states with an easy-to-use tool that has resulted in over 60 million voter verification queries processed since April 2025. USCIS is committed to helping eliminate voter fraud and restoring trust in America’s elections by ensuring only U.S. citizens vote. USCIS continues to strengthen the SAVE program and encourages all states to utilize it.

Ceballos is not the only former mayor in hot water.

A former California mayor was recently charged with spying for China.

Read more here:

BUSTED: California Mayor Charged With Spying For China