San Diego Padres staffer in ICE custody after arrest at Texas airport
By Hannah Keyser, CNN
(CNN) — A player development staff member for the San Diego Padres was detained in Texas last week while traveling and is being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Oswaldo Pirela, 34, works as a catching coordinator for the Padres organization and was in El Paso, Texas, to work with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate this past week. His cousin, Jorge Pirela, told CNN on Tuesday that Pirela was detained by ICE at the airport on Monday morning at approximately 4:00 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. MT while attempting to travel home to Arizona, where he lives with his wife and two young daughters.
His family confirmed the reports to CNN and arrest records show Pirela is currently being held at the El Paso Processing Center.
According to his cousin Jorge Pirela, Oswaldo Pirela arrived in the United States from Venezuela in 2014 and filed for asylum. According to his family, Pirela is currently going through the EB-2 visa process.
“Since the time he applied for asylum, he has continuously renewed his work authorization whenever it was approaching expiration. Everything has always been done through the proper legal process,” Jorge Pirela said in a text message to CNN.
“He is truly an exemplary person. He lives for his family, is a hardworking man, a devoted father and husband, and a man of faith.”
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Pirela entered the country illegally in 2014 and was granted permission by the US government to stay in the country until February 2018.
“In violation of our nation’s laws, he 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,” the spokesperson said.
“To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do NOT confer legal status in the United States.”
Pirela’s detainment is the latest collision between Major League Baseball and the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policy. Last summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers said they denied ICE entry to their vast parking lots outside Dodger Stadium as the Trump administration was making large sweeps for undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area.
Protesters flocked to Dodger Stadium to chant against ICE’s presence and the incident raised alarms in Southern California about the Trump administration’s deportation operations.
The Trump administration is looking to increase the speed of its deportations and is casting a wider net about who can be arrested. Asylum seekers such as Pirela have been frequently caught up in immigration operations and sent back to their home countries despite attempting to follow the proper legal processes.
Pirela has been with the Padres since 2024. The team has been in touch with his family regarding the situation, Major League Baseball confirmed.
“We recently became aware of the detainment of minor league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela in El Paso, Texas,” the Padres said in a statement to CNN. “We are working to gather additional information and will not have any further comment at this time.”
This story has been updated with comment from the Department of Homeland Security.
The-CNN-Wire
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