We’ve Reached the ‘ICE Is Imprisoning MLB Coaches’ Phase of Governance Now
Padres catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela was detained and imprisoned by ICE in Texas this weekend despite his valid work permit.
Photo via Unsplash, Ben Hershey Splinter ICE
Among the insidious ways the second Trump administration enforces its platform of mass terror and draconian immigration action is its inchworm approach toward provocation–each week or month, it finds a new way to target some new category of person who would previously have been left unharmed.
People with valid work permits and pending green cards, who are married to U.S. citizens? We’re casually arresting them on airport jetways now and throwing them into the same detention sites as murderers and drug traffickers, because ICE needs to meet its quotas. The spouses of U.S. soldiers? We’re arresting them when they arrive to live on a military base with their wife or husband.
This is how “new normals” are built over the course of one tyrannical term in office; by continuously expanding the list of targets and seeing what you can get away with, without triggering a critical mass of outrage. And now the latest addition to the list of acceptable targets is apparently “active Major League Baseball coaches,” a precedent that means literally any pro sports figure is also fair game, high-profile public position be damned. Who’s next, presumptive American League MVP Yordan Alvarez? Why not?
The unfortunate soul setting this new precedent is San Diego Padres’ minor league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela, a former minor league player for three years in the Texas Rangers system who now coaches for the Padres’ Triple A affiliate, the El Paso Chihuahuas. He was detained by ICE while traveling back from El Paso, Texas to his home in Arizona from a work trip over the weekend, according to his family. The now 34-year-old Pirela is a Venezuela native who fled the country and applied for asylum status in 2015, because he had been a protester against the regime of Nicolás Maduro. He’s been living in the U.S. for 12 years, has no criminal record, and has raised a family with his wife and two daughters, age 9 and 4, both of whom are U.S. citizens. When he was arrested by ICE, he reportedly presented them with a valid work permit expiring in 2029 (shared with media), and his asylum paperwork, but was taken into custody anyway. Sister Daniela Pirela theorized that her brother had been targeted due to his active asylum case, saying, “There isn’t a reason why they detained him. They still haven’t told us. Since he arrived in this country, the only thing he’s done is follow the rules of this country and do things properly.”
DHS, meanwhile, put out a statement saying that Pirela had been “granted permission to remain in our nation until 2018,” and had “overstayed his welcome,” saying “he will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”
ICE detained a Padres minor league coach and is trying to deport him. MLB declined to comment. So, so cowardly. www.nytimes.com/athletic/752…
— Sammy Roth (@sammyroth.bsky.social) 10:43 PM · Aug 18, 2026
Jorge Pirela, Pirela’s brother, subsequently posted on Instagram: “Oswaldo, like me and other members of our family, was directly affected by persecution from the Venezuelan regime. 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. Anyone who knows Oswaldo knows the kind of person he is. 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 people who have worked and lived alongside him can speak to his character, his work ethic, and the positive impact he has had on those around him.”
From the perspective of the Trump administration, one could perceive this move in a couple of potential ways. On one hand, the detention of an active MLB coach–the sort of person whose arrest is bound to create headlines–might simply be an uncaring system operating a particularly clumsy and careless dragnet.
The more insidiously intentional reading, however, is that the Trump administration and ICE have gone after Pirela because they judge this is a low enough level of the professional sports world where the teams and league can be expected to largely turn a blind eye, effectively getting ICE’s foot in the door when it comes to targeting more people from those organizations in the future. In that case, they are likely relying on the San Diego Padres and Major League Baseball to be so averse to stirring up the ire of the administration that they’ll attempt to sweep all of this under the rug. And you know … I wouldn’t be surprised if the Padres and MLB do exactly that!
The Padres, to start with, have barely acknowledged the detention of Pirela despite the fact that it happened roughly 72 hours ago. In their single, carefully worded statement, they chose not to lodge any kind of protest or condemnation of these actions, saying only the following: “We recently became aware of the detainment of minor league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela in El Paso, Texas. We are working to gather additional information and will not have any further comment at this time.” Pirela’s wife, Kimberly Avila, at least confirmed that the family has been in contact with the Padres, who are “assisting” them. The league, meanwhile, has not issued any statement whatsoever–if they’re in touch with the administration, it is presumably happening entirely through back channels.
That is entirely expected, when it comes to MLB as an organization. Although individual teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers have offered at least some resistance to ICE operations–which became necessary when ICE was attempting to literally detain people at Dodger Stadium during the 2025 season–the league itself has attempted to preserve a chummy relationship with the administration (and Trump personally) at all costs. In early 2025, this included MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred meeting one on one with “big baseball fan” Donald Trump, to talk about “baseball matters.” The content of that meeting was never truly revealed, but it has often been theorized that Manfred was essentially bargaining with the POTUS for immigration leniency for players and members of MLB organizations, while dangling things that Trump personally wanted, such as the posthumous reinstatement of banned all-time hits leader Pete Rose.
Rose was reinstated weeks after Manfred’s meeting with Trump. But whatever gentleman’s agreement to turn a blind eye on ICE action toward MLB operations that might have been established here has just fallen apart with the detention of Oswaldo Pirela. So much for the “dialogue” Manfred boasted of in 2025, when he said the following: “Given the number of foreign-born players we have, we’re always concerned about ingress and egress. We have had dialogue with the administration about this topic. And, you know, they’re very interested in sports. They understand the unique need to be able to go back and forth, and I’m going to leave it at that.”
Now, we’re just left with nothing but dangerous precedent, indicative of the walls that the Trump administration and ICE continue to break down in illustrating that there IS NO SAFE SEGMENT OF SOCIETY when it comes to immigration tyranny. The Pirela family is trying everything they can to bring attention and outcry to the case, including reaching out to their representative in Congress, Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (AZ) … but he’s a Republican, so it can safely be assumed he’ll be ignoring the plight of one of his constituents as hard as he possibly can. Hamadeh has predictably offered no statement and ignored media requests for comment.
As Oswaldo’s brother Jorge observed in another impassioned plea for his freedom: “We are asking for one thing: due process and justice. Every hour he remains detained is another hour taken from his family, his work, and the life he has spent years building in this country.”
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