Compare to this US citizen who voted and got five years on prison since she was a felon:
In many states, you’re allowed to vote even if you’re a felon (apparently not in Texas), but you can’t vote as a non-citizen anywhere (except for some very specific local issues in very specific locations).
Re last post, five years is insane, at least anywhere except for the U.S. Fortunately, the appeals court vacated the conviction:
I do not like plea bargaining, but the outcome here seems about right considering he voted illegally several times.
As for him being mayor, I think they should pass an ordinance saying that small town officials do not need to be citizens. Context here is that in very small towns, it is often difficult to find anyone who wants to take up elected office.
Just to be sure, are there any such local issues in this part of Kansas? Could it be that he registered to vote just for that small set of things he can vote for?
AIUI, he registered to vote for the same reasons as anybody else: to vote in any and all elections, whether they are local, state, or national. And he voted R most of the time. (To be fair, many, if not most, local elections in Kansas have only Pubs running for office.)
That’s my guess due to his rural county having gone 83 percent for Trump in November 2024, and also due to Kris Kobach’s team having let him get off with probation. But is there any evidence for this, like maybe a public voter registration record?
From the first article I linked above in post #20:
Ceballos said last year he is “pretty sure” he voted for Kobach and Trump because he always voted Republican like his friends did.
California, Vermont, Maryland allow non-citizens to vote in some local elections.
https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States
This sums up many Republican voters;
“I can’t remember anything about the person I voted for, other than they had the (R) beside their name. That’s all that matters.”
I’m going to take back the part about the punishment being fair.
It just hit me what might have happened. One or more of the poll workers and/or fellow council members in Coldwater Kansas, population 687, knew that Jose Ceballos was a green card guy. But they also knew Jose was willing to do the time-consuming job of mayor for nominal or zero pay. So it was in their interest to allow their friend to be a make-believe citizen.
The new Coldwater mayor is Paul Alverez. Another one with a Hispanic surname. I wonder what he knew when, not that it’s my business.
Disagree. They know if they voted for Trump. Perhaps many forget if they voted for Kobach, but I think Kansas mayors know.
Thinking about it a bit more broadly: There are millions of non-citizens in the U.S., green card and otherwise, doing jobs Americans do not want to do. It’s a lot more common that the job Americans do not want is in agriculture than in mini-town politics, but in this case . . .
Jose Ceballos seems to be doing what is least likely to result in deportation. If sucking up to Kobach and Trump is required, so be it. I hope his strategy works.
He himself said that he was only “pretty sure”, and that only on the basis of their party. The absolute most positive possible spin on it is that Ceballos knew who he was voting for, but wanted to appeal to the sort of people who don’t know (or care) who they’re voting for. That’s still pretty rotten.
I read this a few times. Probably we disagree on what are the moral responsibilities of permanent residents and citizens in a town like Coldwater Kansas. But I am missing what is claimed to be pretty rotten here.
Are you aware that he was brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age four and as far as we know has never been back? Does that have an influence on the alleged rottenness?
Are you criticizing what he said before being charged with fraud, or after, or both?
My statement there is independent of his citizenship or legal-residence status. He’s a professional politician who said that he’s only “pretty sure” of who he voted for, and that only because of their party. There are two possible interpretations of that: Either a professional politician just doesn’t care about anything actually substantive about politics, just the party label, which is pretty rotten. Or he does care, but he knows that his voters don’t, and he wants to pander to low-information voters, and so he lies and claims that he’s himself a low-information voter. Which is also pretty rotten.
Perhaps it is my fault, but I still am unsure I understand your points.
To me, the barely, if at all, paid mayor of a town of 687 souls is not a professional politician. Even if an American town is ten times that population, the mayor is typically an unpaid part timer, and local issues are probably unrelated to national disputes.
The voters may be high information on local issues.
And Jose Ceballos, under advice of counsel, may be high information on how to keep people on his side so as to not be deported away from his family to a country he does not know.
Part of the picture:
Once accused of election fraud, former small-town mayor leaves court to applause
Checking out Judge Thomas, I find that he is an elected Republican.
Gaining the sympathy of a state judge is not the same as Ceballos getting ICE on his side, but it is a start.
And it might be a start at getting Judge Thomas acting less as an elected Republican.
Update to this saga.
The federal government began removal proceedings against a former Kansas mayor and permanent legal resident who hoped to avoid detention after pleading guilty to election crimes.
Seeking help, his attorney has contacted both GOP Senators.
Hoeme said he has reached out multiple times to Kansas Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, and hasn’t received a call back from either one.
“You know, what always flabbergasted me about 1935 Germany is where were the other representatives of government?” Hoeme said. “In our particular case, it’s where is Moran and where is Roger Marshall? They’re just bootlickers because they like their jobs. They want to keep their jobs.”
Yeah, he’s screwed. He was lucky ICE wasn’t waiting at the courthouse in April. Hopefully he used that time to make whatever arrangements he could for his new life in Mexico.
He pretty much committed a death penalty offense as far as immigration law is concerned. I think his only possible relief is a private act of Congress, and that isn’t happening in 2026.
Yep, and contrary to what this dullard thinks:
“He has not been convicted of any kind of voter fraud. It should not have impacted his immigration status,” Hoeme said. “The Trump administration and ICE have doubled down on nonsense that he is a criminal.”
…a conviction is not required for immigration consequences for illegal voting to attach. Apparently this Hoeme character is his attorney. I really hope he’s his immigration attorney specifically, because inasmuch as he clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about, I hope this fascist Trump-loving ex-mayor gets deported.
Oh, and as fascists like this ex-mayor our doubtless fond of pointing out, being convicted of a misdemeanor makes him a criminal.
That’s from:
He is not his immigration attorney. Not sure where I read it, but there’s another attorney involved to represent him before ICE.