‘I want his name to be known:’ Wife of immigrant injured at ICE facility shooting speaks out

DALLAS – Stephany Gauffeny rubs her pregnant belly as she sits on a brown leather chair inside a law office. She’s tired and worried.

Gauffeny can go into labor any time now. But instead of preparing for this moment – the birth of her fifth child – she’s anguished about her husband Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez.

He’s on life support after being critically injured on Wednesday in the shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas. He was being detained there after being arrested on Aug. 8 for driving under the influence. He is in the U.S. without legal status.

“It hurts to think like, what if he never even gets to meet him,” Gauffeny told NPR on Saturday, referring to her unborn child, a son.

That is very possible.

Gauffeny said that the medical personnel at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas told her on Friday evening Garcia-Hernandez might not survive the night. As of Saturday afternoon, machines were keeping him alive.

One of the things that shocked her the most when she saw Garcia-Hernandez in the hospital was how he looked.

“When I first arrived at the hospital, he was shackled, even though he couldn’t move,” Gauffeny said. He’s still unconscious, but because he remains in ICE custody, agents are controlling access to his room.

All of this is making it harder for her to visit her husband, and for his brothers to see him, too.

In addition to Garcia-Hernandez, Venezuelan detainee Jose Andres Bordones-Molina was also injured in the shooting. A third was killed, and the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as 37-year-old Norlan Guzman Fuentes, from El Salvador.

In a statement to NPR, ICE confirmed the identities of all three victims on Saturday. The agency said that all three were “criminal illegal aliens.”

The shooter was identified by ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons as Joshua Jahn, a 29-year-old who died of self-inflicted wounds. According to law enforcement officials, the man sought to “terrorize” ICE agents. However, none of the victims were law enforcement officers. Instead, all of the victims were detainees, according to the government.

‘He’s a great dad’

Gauffeny said the government’s long delay identifying the victims is what made her want to tell the world more about who her husband is.

“I want his name to be known,” Gauffeny said. “I want people to know who he really was. He wasn’t just an immigrant or a detainee, or a criminal.” She said that she hoped this incident prompted more security to be put in at ICE immigration facilities to protect those inside.

Garcia-Hernandez, 31, is originally from Mexico, and has lived in the U.S. since he was a teenager. He doesn’t have legal status, his wife said, but based on the fact that she was a U.S. citizen, they were trying to get him permanent residency.

She told NPR Garcia-Hernandez had a great sense of humor, always making people laugh. He was always helping people – from those in need in the streets, to his family members and friends. He’d give people rides, help fix their cars, help them with household tasks like hanging TVs.

And he always worried about his family and took care of her. Even while in detention, he would ask her whether anyone was helping her cut the grass at their new home.

She said he worked as a house painter before he was detained, and would often surprise her by coming home from work with her favorite snacks, including elotes.

They met when they were 15 years old, and started dating when they were around 19. They’ve been married for a decade.

And he loved being a dad, she said. Together they were raising four kids, ages 3, 8, 12, and 14.

“He spoiled them a lot … and they miss him,” Gauffeny said.

Gauffeny has not told the kids what happened to Garcia-Hernandez. She’s hoping for her husband to get better, although she acknowledges that is nearly impossible.

The kids are noticing her absence – she spends most of her days at the hospital. She’s allowed to visit her husband for a few hours in the morning and the evening.

And she’s also worried about how she’ll provide for her kids since Garcia-Hernandez was the main source of income. The family is now relying on a GoFundMe campaign to pay for groceries and bills.

“Before he got arrested … he had told me, ‘Okay, my next paycheck, you know, we’re gonna go out and buy the baby all this stuff,'” she said. “And, you know, it never happened.”