San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator Oswaldo José Pirela has been released on bond and reunited with his family after spending more than a week in federal immigration custody, the team confirmed.
Pirela, a 34-year-old Venezuelan national, was released Monday, Aug. 24, from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in El Paso, Texas. He has since returned to his home in Peoria, Arizona, where he lives with his wife, Kimberly, and their two U.S.-born daughters.
"We are pleased that Oswaldo Pirela has been released on bond and reunited with his family," Padres spokesperson Craig Hughner said in a statement. The organization declined to comment further, citing Pirela's privacy and the continuing legal proceedings.
Neither the team nor federal authorities disclosed the amount of the bond.
Pirela was detained Aug. 16 at El Paso International Airport while returning home from a work trip involving the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Padres' Triple-A affiliate. His release does not end the immigration case against him. The Department of Homeland Security said he remains subject to removal proceedings.
DHS maintains that Pirela entered the United States legally in 2014 but was authorized to remain only until Feb. 10, 2018. The agency alleges that he stayed in the country beyond that date and did not have documentation establishing legal immigration status when federal officers approached him at the airport.
"On August 24, he was released from ICE custody on bond pending his removal proceedings," DHS said in a statement reported by NBC News.
The government also said that employment authorization and a pending asylum application do not, on their own, grant lawful immigration status.
Pirela's family disputes the government's account. Relatives say he entered the country with a tourist visa, applied for asylum and repeatedly obtained authorization to work while his case remained pending. A work permit presented by his family was reportedly issued in 2024 and remains valid until 2029, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The family has argued that the expiration date of a visa does not necessarily establish how long a person was permitted to remain in the country, particularly when other immigration proceedings are underway. Pirela has retained an immigration attorney to challenge the government's position.
Following her husband's release, Kimberly Pirela said the family's attention had shifted to preventing his deportation.
"Now it is up to us to continue with this entire process," she said in a statement translated from Spanish, adding that the family must focus on handling the case "as well as possible."
According to the Associated Press, Pirela's sister, Daniela Pirela, confirmed that he was home with his family Tuesday.
Pirela signed with the Texas Rangers as a teenager and played catcher, first base and outfield in the organization's Dominican Summer League from 2009 through 2011. He joined the Padres' minor-league coaching staff in 2024 as a bench coach for the Lake Elsinore Storm and became the organization's catching coordinator in 2025.
His role requires him to travel among Padres affiliates in El Paso, San Antonio, Fort Wayne and Lake Elsinore, as well as the organization's spring-training and player-development complex in Peoria.
Pirela's release offers his family immediate relief, but it does not resolve the central dispute over his right to remain in the United States. His asylum claim and removal proceedings will continue through the federal immigration system, and no date for his next hearing has been publicly announced.
