By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A coach in the San Diego Padres organization who lives in Peoria was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas while on a work trip.
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The family of Oswaldo Pirela, from Venezuela, said he’s here in the states legally for work.
Oswaldo Pirela is a catching coach for the San Diego Padres’ minor league team. His family said he has a valid work permit, along with other documents that are still being processed.
In an exclusive interview, Oswaldo Pirela’s family said they are devastated, but they’ve been able to talk to Oswaldo Pirela and he’s OK.
They showed Arizona’s Family his work permit, which shows it was issued in 2024 and is valid until 2029. Family says he had it with him at the time of the arrest.
Family said his green card is being processed.
“It’s very hard. He’s authorized to work in the United States. So, the same department, Homeland Security, issues a work permit but then somehow it’s not enough,” Oswaldo Pirela’s brother Juan Pirela told us.
Oswaldo Pirela’s mother, Naivy Dominguez, said he has been in the U.S. for 12 years, and his green card is still in process.
Oswaldo Pirela, his wife and 2 kids live in Peoria. Both kids are U.S. citizens.
Family emphasized that Oswaldo has no criminal history and he applied for asylum in 2015, citing danger from the Venezuelan government.
“At a very young age they [her kids] became protestors of Venezuelan regime, and that’s why we all had to figure out where we were going to go. Because we were being followed by the regime and we got here with the process of asylum,” Dominguez said.
Despite the pending paperwork, family members said immigration agents told Oswaldo Pirela that on their end it shows his tourist visa expired in 2018.
“It seems like an intentional disconnect; like one of the things Oswaldo is running into is he tells them he has all his paperwork in place, the political asylum work authorization and all the things that allow him to live here and ICE says they don’t have it in the system,” Juan Pirela said.
Juan Pirela said he has been communicating with Oswaldo Pirela from an iPad that he can use at the detention center in El Paso, but they have to pay per text.
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The Department of Homeland Security posted on X about Oswaldo Pirela, saying he “overstayed his welcome” in the U.S.
The New York Times reported this week that there’s been an increase in arrests at airports of people who have expired visas but have active immigration cases and no criminal histories.
Arizona’s Family asked DHS for clarification on why Oswaldo was arrested even though he had a valid work permit.
In a statement Tuesday, officials with DHS said;
On August 16, 2026, Border Patrol arrested Oswaldo Jose Pirela Dominguez, an illegal alien from Venezuela, at the El Paso International Airport. He entered the country legally on September 10, 2014, and was granted permission by the Obama administration to remain in the country until February 10, 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. To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do NOT confer legal status in the United States. Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.
We asked a follow-up to that response requesting further clarification about work permits. A DHS spokesperson specified that the work permit is “not a green card, not citizenship and not a standalone immigration status.”
“An Employment Authorization Document (EAD) — often called a work permit — is a card issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that proves you are authorized to work in the United States for a specific period of time. It is not a green card, not citizenship, and not a standalone immigration status — it is usually tied to an underlying case or status that grants you work permission,” the statement read.
Oswaldo Pirela’s family, unsure when they will see him again, is wondering what will happen next.
“I feel very nervous, but I feel that everything will be OK. We have many years in this country, and we do things the right way,” Dominguez said.
In a statement, officials with the Padres said they are aware of the situation and are looking into it.
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