A member of the San Diego Padres organization has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while traveling home from a work assignment in Texas, prompting his family to publicly plead for his release and raising fresh questions about the rapidly expanding use of immigration enforcement at American airports. Oswaldo José Pirela, the Padres' minor league catching coordinator, was taken into custody early Sunday at El Paso International Airport while preparing to fly home to his family in Arizona, according to his wife and other relatives.
The Padres' Triple-A affiliate, the El Paso Chihuahuas, is based in the Texas border city, and Pirela regularly travels as part of his player-development responsibilities. The team's own staff directory identifies Pirela as its Coordinator, Catching within player development. As of Tuesday morning, ICE's detainee records continued to show Pirela in federal custody at the El Paso Processing Center.
"We recently became aware of the detainment of minor league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela in El Paso, Texas," the Padres said in a statement. "We are working to gather additional information and will not have any further comment at this time."
Pirela's family says the circumstances are particularly distressing because he has lived in the United States since 2014, has a pending asylum application and has been authorized to work here. His wife, Kemberly Avila, said the Padres are assisting the family. Pirela's brother, Jorge, told reporters that Pirela was not carrying his physical employment authorization card when immigration authorities detained him. Exactly why ICE took Pirela into custody has not yet been publicly explained.
ICE did not immediately provide the news organizations reporting on the case with a statement identifying the legal basis for his detention. A pending asylum application can make an individual eligible to obtain employment authorization, although employment authorization itself does not confer permanent immigration status.
Federal law also requires many noncitizens over 18 to carry evidence of their immigration registration, but whether the absence of Pirela's physical work authorization card played a decisive role in his detention remains unclear. His family insists he followed the legal process available to him after fleeing Venezuela.
"Oswaldo, like me and other members of our family, was directly affected by persecution from the Venezuelan regime," his brother Jorge wrote publicly. "We came to the United States seeking safety through the legal process, applied for asylum through the proper channels, and have worked hard to build our lives and become contributing members of American society."
Pirela's sister Daniela similarly told NBC News that her brother sought asylum after arriving in the United States in 2014 and has spent years waiting for the case to be resolved.
"He did everything lawfully as the U.S. asks," she said. "He loves this country."
His mother, Naivy Dominguez, has also publicly appealed for help, saying her son was being "unjustly detained" and asking supporters to make his case known. Pirela is married and the father of two daughters born in the United States. Family members have described him as an intensely involved father whose daughters regularly accompany him to baseball fields.
"He is dedicated, loving, their best days together are going to the field to help Dad and play with him," Avila said in comments shared by journalist Lidia Terrazas.
The story has quickly begun drawing attention from Padres fans, many of whom have flooded social media posts about Pirela's detention asking whether the organization and Major League Baseball will intervene. It is important, however, to distinguish Pirela's actual baseball history from descriptions circulating online identifying him as a former Texas Rangers major leaguer.
Pirela was signed by the Texas Rangers organization as a teenager in 2009 and spent three seasons playing in the Dominican Summer League, primarily as a catcher and first baseman. He never reached Major League Baseball. Official records show him playing 79 games in the Rangers' developmental system before being released in February 2012.
He eventually transitioned into coaching and joined the Padres organization in 2024. He now works throughout the organization's minor league system helping develop catchers rather than serving on the Padres' Major League coaching staff.
His detention also comes amid a notable expansion of immigration enforcement at airports around the country. Recent reporting has documented an increased ICE presence at domestic airports, with immigration authorities using information shared with the Transportation Security Administration to identify and detain certain travelers. Attorneys have reported cases involving people with pending immigration proceedings, including asylum and residency applications, as well as individuals accused of overstaying visas.
The airport enforcement effort forms part of the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown. ICE detention and arrest numbers have increased dramatically since President Donald Trump returned to office, and government data analyzed by news organizations and researchers show that substantial numbers of those arrested have had no criminal convictions.
Pirela's case is particularly striking because he wasn't attempting to enter the United States from abroad. According to his family, he was preparing to board a domestic flight home after performing his job for a Major League Baseball organization. There has also been no public allegation from ICE or the Padres that Pirela committed a crime.
That doesn't necessarily mean his immigration status prevents federal authorities from detaining him. Immigration law is distinct from criminal law, and people can be placed in immigration detention without having committed a criminal offense. But until ICE explains the legal basis for taking Pirela into custody, important questions remain about why a man with an apparently long-pending asylum application and work authorization was detained while traveling domestically for his job.
Pirela is not the first athlete or sports-industry figure to become caught up in the recent expansion of airport immigration enforcement. Other recent cases have involved soccer players and college athletes traveling domestically while immigration matters were pending, although the underlying legal circumstances vary considerably from case to case.
For Pirela's family, however, the immigration-policy debate is considerably less abstract. His wife and two daughters are waiting for him in Arizona. His Padres duties remain on hold. And his relatives say they are attempting to secure legal representation and obtain his release while seeking an explanation for why he was taken into custody in the first place.
"Anyone who knows Oswaldo knows the kind of person he is," his brother wrote. "He is a devoted father, a dedicated coach, an exceptional worker, and someone who has earned the respect of his coworkers, former managers, employers, players, and the communities he has been part of."
The Padres have so far stopped short of publicly criticizing ICE or offering details about what assistance they are providing, saying only that the organization is gathering information. Major League Baseball has not publicly announced any intervention in the case. That leaves one of the Padres' player-development coordinators sitting in federal immigration custody while his employer, family and increasingly vocal group of baseball fans try to determine what happens next.
SanDiegoVille has reached out to the San Diego Padres, Major League Baseball and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking additional information regarding the legal basis for Pirela's detention, his current immigration status, whether his lack of a physical work-permit card played any role in the detention and what efforts are underway to secure his release.
This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Originally published on August 18, 2026.
