- Jose Ceballos-Armendariz faces possible removal from the US after pleading guilty to illegal voting and false citizenship claims.
- Despite 36 years as a lawful permanent resident, the Mexico native’s election conduct has triggered federal immigration scrutiny.
- Federal law treats false citizenship representations with extreme severity and no waivers for cases after 1996.
(KANSAS) — The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on April 22, 2026, that Jose Ceballos-Armendariz, a lawful permanent resident from Mexico, faces possible removal from the United States after pleading guilty in a Kansas illegal voting case that also raised a false U.S. citizenship claim.
Ceballos-Armendariz, a Green Card holder since 1990, pleaded guilty on April 20, 2026, to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly election conduct. Authorities concluded he had voted while he was not a U.S. citizen and had falsely claimed U.S. citizenship on voter registration records.
The immigration exposure reaches beyond the misdemeanor plea. Federal immigration law treats a false claim to U.S. citizenship as a separate ground of deportability, even when the same conduct also leads to state election charges.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed six felony charges against Ceballos-Armendariz in November 2025, including voting without qualification and election perjury. He later admitted guilt to reduced misdemeanor counts after prosecutors did not prove intent, but the factual admission that he voted as a non-citizen remains part of the case.
DHS said Ceballos-Armendariz checked that he was a U.S. citizen on a Kansas voter registration form. DHS also said that on a February 2025 naturalization application, he marked “no” when asked whether he had ever claimed to be a U.S. citizen.
That sequence gave immigration officials two tracks to examine at once: the act of voting and the citizenship representation tied to registration and later immigration paperwork. Records that may have drawn limited attention for years can return to the foreground once a lawful permanent resident files for citizenship.
Ceballos-Armendariz served as a city council member and was twice elected mayor of Coldwater, Kansas. Investigators found that he cast ballots in multiple elections, including the 2022 and 2024 cycles, and falsely affirmed U.S. citizenship on state voter registration forms.
DHS also said he has a prior 1995 battery conviction. The agency’s current focus, however, centers on the election case and the false citizenship representation, which immigration law treats with unusual severity.
Two provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act sit at the center of that analysis. INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) addresses inadmissibility for a non-citizen who falsely represents himself as a U.S. citizen for a purpose or benefit under federal or state law, and INA § 237(a)(3)(D) addresses deportability on the same basis.
That legal structure means the false claim itself can trigger removal scrutiny. A local plea bargain that reduces criminal counts does not erase the immigration issue if the underlying record shows a citizenship claim on a state form.
The Board of Immigration Appeals reinforced that standard in Matter of Zhang in 2019. That decision established that intent is not required for removal based on a false claim to citizenship.
In practice, that makes these cases hard to contain once the government has the form, the signature, and the benefit sought. A person’s claim that he misunderstood the box or lacked fraudulent intent does not resolve the immigration charge under that precedent.
Federal law also leaves little room for relief. A false claim to citizenship made after September 30, 1996, generally carries no waiver, a sharp contrast with other immigration violations that sometimes allow forgiveness through family ties, length of residence, or other equities.
DHS officials framed the Kansas case as part of a broader enforcement message. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on Nov. 13, 2025, “This alien committed a felony by voting in American elections. If convicted, he will be placed in removal proceedings. Our elections belong to American citizens, not foreign citizens.”
Matthew Tragesser, a USCIS spokesman, said on Nov. 16, 2025, “This situation is absolutely unacceptable and, sadly, no surprise given the years of lax voting security in the United States.” McLaughlin also said, “The SAVE program is a critical tool for state and local governments to safeguard the integrity of elections across the country.”
The SAVE program, short for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, has become part of the administration’s election integrity message in cases involving non-citizen registration or voting. DHS and USCIS have both said non-citizen voting is unlawful and can trigger removal.
The case also carries a wider warning for lawful permanent residents who assume long residence blunts every immigration risk. Ceballos-Armendariz has held a green card for 36 years, yet that history alone does not protect him if the government proves a false citizenship claim.
Voting rights mark one of the clearest legal lines between a Green Card holder and a U.S. citizen. Lawful permanent residents can live and work in the country, but they do not have the same right to register and vote in elections reserved for citizens.
That distinction often becomes most dangerous on paperwork rather than at the polling place itself. A checked citizenship box on a voter registration card, motor vehicle form, or public-benefit application can create consequences that outlast any local prosecution.
Naturalization screening can expose those records years later. When someone files Form N-400, officers review prior applications, signed statements, criminal history, and outside records, and inconsistencies between old state forms and newer federal filings can become central to the case.
A denial of naturalization is one consequence. Removal proceedings are another, and in false citizenship cases the second risk can overshadow the first.
Election records, state registration forms, and prior statements can also receive fresh scrutiny in removal court. The government does not need a recent arrival or a short residence history to bring that review; a decades-old permanent resident can still face deportation if the record shows a false citizenship representation.
Anyone preparing a naturalization filing should review past voter registration history, voting activity, and prior citizenship claims before submitting Form N-400. Non-citizens should never register to vote, never vote, and never indicate U.S. citizenship unless they are citizens.
Past forms matter. A registration card signed years earlier can resurface during screening, and a contradictory answer on a later immigration application can deepen the problem rather than close it.
The Kansas case shows how compliance risks extend beyond visas, work authorization, and travel history. State election records can become immigration evidence, and a false U.S. citizenship claim can turn a citizenship application into a removal case.
Ceballos-Armendariz now stands at that intersection: a longtime lawful permanent resident, a guilty plea on state election charges, and a federal immigration system that treats false claims to citizenship as one of the hardest violations to overcome.
