Joe Ceballos — a longtime Republican and the mayor of the small Kansas town of Clearwater — is now confronting felony voter fraud charges and the possibility of being deported by the very presidential administration he supported.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) announced the charges just one day after Ceballos won reelection in Clearwater, a community of 2,653 residents according to the 2020 Census. The case includes three counts of voting without being qualified and three felony counts of election perjury, which Kobach said could lead to a maximum sentence of 68 months in prison along with fines that may total as much as $200,000.
On top of the criminal case, the Department of Homeland Security has warned that it may begin deportation proceedings to send Ceballos back to Mexico — a country he has not lived in since early childhood.
A recent profile of Ceballos, published in The Wichita Eagle by Roy Wenzl, explained that the 54-year-old did not realize that his status as a Mexican immigrant made him ineligible to vote in any U.S. election, despite having been casting ballots since 1991. Ceballos also acknowledged that he “probably” voted for Kobach and former president Donald Trump several times because he automatically selects the candidates with an “R” beside their names.
Speaking to Wenzl about the charges, Ceballos admitted he was frightened.
“I haven’t seen Mexico since I was four,” Ceballos said. “I don’t speak Spanish anymore. If I get deported, it would wreck my life.”
