Wife of immigrant injured at Dallas ICE facility shooting speaks out : NPR

Stephany Gauffeny speaks at the NPR on September 27 about her husband Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, victim of the September 24 shooting in a center of Dallas Ice.

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán / NPR

hide

tilting legend

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán / NPR

Dallas – Stephany Gauffeny rubs her pregnant belly while she sits on a brown leather chair inside an law firm. She is tired and worried.

Gauffeny can get into work at any time now. But instead of preparing at that time – the birth of her fifth child – she is anxious about her husband Miguel Angel Garcia -Hernandez.

He is on the support of life after being critically injured on Wednesday The shooting in an immigration and customs installation in Dallas. He was detained there after being arrested on August 8 for driving under the influence. He is in the United States without legal status.

“It hurts to think like, and if he never meets him,” Gauffeny told NPR on Saturday, referring to his child to be born, a son.

It is very possible.

Gauffeny said the medical staff at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas told him on Friday evening that Garcia-Hernandez may not survive the night. Saturday afternoon, the machines kept him alive.

One of the things that shocked her the most when she saw Garcia-Hernandez in the hospital is what he looked like.

“When I arrived at the hospital for the first time, he was chained, even if he couldn’t move,” said Gauffeny. He is always unconscious, but because he remains in police custody, the agents control access to his room.

All this makes her more difficult for her to visit her husband, and for her brothers to see him too.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, one of the victims of the September 24 shooting in a center of Dallas Ice.

With the kind authorization of Stephany Gauffeny

hide

tilting legend

With the kind authorization of Stephany Gauffeny

In addition to Garcia-Hernandez, the Venezuelan detainee Jose Andres Bordones-Molina was also injured during the shooting. A third was killed and the Dallas County Legalist’s office identified him as Norlan Guzman Fuentes, 37, from Salvador.

In a statement at NPR, Ice confirmed the identity of the three victims on Saturday. The agency said the three were “criminal illegal foreigners”.

The shooter was IDentified by the acting director of the ice tod Lyons Like Joshua Jahn, a 29-year-old man who died of self-inflicted injuries. According to managers of law enforcement, The man sought to “terrorize” ice agents. However, none of the victims were police officers. Instead, all victims were prisoners, according to the government.

‘He’s a big dad’

Gauffeny said that the long delay of the government identifying the victims is what made him want to tell the world more about whom her husband is.

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

Garcia-Hernandez, 31, is from Mexico and has lived in the United States since he was a teenager. He has no legal status, said his wife, but depending on the fact that she was an American citizen, they were trying to make her a permanent residence.

Stephany Gauffeny and Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez.

With the kind authorization of Stephany Gauffeny

hide

tilting legend

With the kind authorization of Stephany Gauffeny

She said at NPR Garcia-Hernandez had a great sense of humor, always making people laugh. He always helped people – of those who need them in the streets, family members and friends. He would make people walks, would help repair their cars, helped them with household chores such as hanging televisions.

And he was still worried about her family and took care of her. Even in detention, he would ask him if someone helped him cut the grass in their new house.

She said that he was working as a house painter before his detention and often surprised her when he returned from work with her favorite snacks, including Elotes.

They met at the age of 15 and started to go out together when they were about 19 years old. They have been married for a decade.

And he liked to be a father, she said. Together, they raised four children, aged 3, 8, 12 and 14 years old.

“He spoiled them a lot … and they are missing,” said Gauffeny.

Gauffeny did not tell children what had happened to Garcia-Hernandez. She hopes that her husband improves, even if she recognizes that it is almost impossible.

Children notice her absence – she spends most of her days in the hospital. She is allowed to visit her husband for a few hours in the morning and evening.

And she is also worried about how she will suffer her children, because Garcia-Hernandez was the main source of income. The family now composes on a GoFundme campaign to pay for grocery store and invoices.

“Before he was arrested … He said to me:” Okay, my next pay check, you know, we’re going to go out and buy the baby all “,” she said. “And, you know, it never happened.”