The Department of Homeland Security has identified more than 24,000 names on U.S. voter rolls that may belong to noncitizens ineligible to cast ballots, the department announced Thursday.
DHS ran the names through its national immigration database and flagged them as suspects. The list has been forwarded to Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, for follow-up review.
The announcement came the same day the agency highlighted a related conviction. Jose Ceballos, a Mexican national, had been serving as mayor of Coldwater, Kansas despite never becoming a U.S. citizen. State authorities charged him last year with fraudulent voting after he repeatedly checked “citizen” on voter registration forms.
Ceballos applied for citizenship last year and lied on that application, claiming he had never falsely stated he was a citizen. He resigned the mayor’s office in December 2025 after charges were filed.
He reached a plea deal with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach that dropped the most serious illegal voting charges. Ceballos pleaded guilty to three counts of disorderly election conduct. The agreement may help him avoid deportation, and he reportedly still plans to seek U.S. citizenship.
“This alien has now been convicted of illegally voting in American elections,” said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary at DHS.
The Trump administration has been pushing states to submit their voter rolls to a DHS database called SAVE, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program. The system cross-checks names against federal immigration records to identify potential noncitizens.
“The SAVE program is a critical tool for state and local governments to safeguard the integrity of elections across the country,” Bis said.
