Stephany Gauffeny, the widow of Miguel García-Hernández, has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband was fatally shot outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Dallas, Texas, last month. She questioned whether the rising political hostility under the Trump administration contributed to his death.
García-Hernández, 31, was one of three detainees from Latin America struck by gunfire when Joshua Jahn opened fire on the facility, writing “ANTI-ICE” on a bullet casing before killing himself. Two men died: García-Hernández and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, of El Salvador. A third, José Andres Bordones-Molina, 33, of Venezuela, later recovered. No law enforcement officers were injured.
Three days after the shooting, Gauffeny gave birth to the couple’s third child, a son named Miles Alexander. “Sometimes it feels better to be asleep than to be awake,” she told the Guardian, adding that authorities had provided few details about the attack. García-Hernández, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, had been arrested for driving under the influence days earlier and was being transported to detention when the shooting occurred.
Gauffeny said her husband was in the process of regularising his status through a waiver, as he was married to a US citizen and the primary breadwinner. “He wanted to have his own painting company,” she recalled. “He was so excited.” She is considering legal action against the authorities, who she says have not answered her questions about the shooting.
