Former Kansas mayor sent to ICE detention as hatred of immigrants claims a victim close to home
A security officer stands outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters during a protest on Feb. 3, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
You cannot ask it to be a little less depraved, just for a moment, to remember that we’re all just people here. Depravity has a mind of its own, a kind of sweeping inevitable darkness. You can run, but you cannot hide from its sickening logic.
Former Coldwater mayor Joe Ceballos has been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He’s the green card holder who was charged for voting repeatedly — and illegally. Although he reached a plea deal on misdemeanor charges and hoped to remain in the country where he made his home for 50 years, Ceballos instead was caught up in the mass deportation that has torn apart American communities from coast to coast.
He will likely be sent back to Mexico, where he remains a citizen but has no connections.
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
When Ceballos was first arrested and charged, the good people of Coldwater could not believe the injustice. They spoke to reporters and talked about how their ex-mayor was a model citizen and a dependable resident. Supporters turned out for a December hearing, standing squarely behind a man who was “just as American as I am,” in the words of one resident.
Coldwater overwhelmingly voted for both President Donald Trump and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. Both men have made the persecution of immigrants a cornerstone of their political brands. Nevertheless, the reliably Republican town kept voting Republican. A majority chose to embrace — rather than resist — depravity.
Yet city residents appeared not to grasp that they had enabled the very forces that swept up Ceballos. A majority of Kansans, who also voted for Trump and Kobach, made the same mistake. They appeared not to grasp that mass deportations would affect the economy, their lives, and those they love.
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
In the months since his arrest, Ceballos and attorney Jess Hoeme did their best to plead his case to a sympathetic news media. Those who knew him and loved him spoke out. The New York Times jetted into town to show the sympathetic faces of those totally surprised by the entirely predictable consequences of their actions.
The story seemed to potentially reach an end last month, when Ceballos entered that plea deal. He hoped the lesser charges might allow him to remain in the United States. All was well and good, and a kindly justice system had come to his senses. Or so he and supporters believed.
ICE came calling nonetheless. This time, they pointed to a conviction from 30 years ago. Ceballos traveled to Wichita on Wednesday morning and surrendered.
Hoeme gave an anguished interview to Kansas Reflector’s Morgan Chilson. He asked where the people were who might support Ceballos in his time of need.
“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 (U.S. Sen. Jerry) Moran and where is Roger Marshall? They’re just bootlickers because they like their jobs. They want to keep their jobs.”
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
Ceballos should not be deported. He should remain at home, in his community, with his friends and family.
Yet the people of Coldwater — and Kansas, and the United States — decided they could bargain with the dark forces that have always swirled just below the surface of our national consciousness. There have always been indigenous tribes to oppress, Black people to enslave, Japanese families to imprison at internment camps.
There has always been an other. There has always been a Joe Ceballos to bear the injustice we incubate.
You either reject put this encroaching darkness, or you accept and encourage it. You stand up for the right thing, or you welcome the wrong thing into your heart.
To quote the Good Book: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.