Padres minor league coach seized by ICE en route | College News
The San Diego Padres minor league catching coordinator is in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and will stay so “pending removal proceedings,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday in a assertion.
Oswaldo Pirela, a former Texas Rangers minor league participant, was detained Sunday morning at El Paso (Texas) International Airport.
Pirela, 34, was flying to Phoenix, where he lives with his spouse and two daughters. The Padres’ triple-A affiliate is the El Paso Chihuahuas, and Pirela was with the group during its home sport Saturday evening against the Salt Lake City Bees, an Angels affiliate.
The Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Pirela got here to the United States from his native Venezuela in September 2014 and that his permission to stay expired Feb. 10, 2018.
DHS said Pirela was not carrying his work allow at the time he was detained. Pirela’s brother Juan Pirela offered Phoenix multimedia news group Arizona’s Family with Oswaldo’s work allow, which indicated it was issued in 2024 and is legitimate until 2029.
“It’s very hard. He’s authorized to work in the United States,” Juan Pirela said. “So, the same department, Homeland Security, issues a work permit but then somehow it’s not enough.”
The DHS assertion addressed the issue: “To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do NOT confer legal status in the United States.”
“In violation of our nation’s laws, [Pirela] overstayed his welcome. When approached by law enforcement officers, he was not in possession of legal documentation granting him status in the country. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and will receive due process.
As a roving catching instructor, Pirela is based out of the Padres’ spring training complex in Peoria, Ariz., and travels to the organization’s minor league affiliates in San Antonio, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Lake Elsinore in addition to El Paso. He spent the 2024 season as bench coach for the class-A Lake Elsinore Storm and became the organization’s catching coordinator in 2025.
“We recently became aware of the detainment of minor league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela in El Paso, Texas,” the Padres membership said in a assertion. “We are working to gather additional information and will not have any further comment at this time.”
Pirela was signed by the Rangers at age 17 out of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, and performed catcher, first base and the outfield from 2009-2011 for the group’s Dominican Republic Summer League affiliate.
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