- - Widow Receives Husband's Immigration Approval Letter 2 Months After He Was Killed in ICE Office Shooting

Becca LongmireDecember 19, 2025 at 12:34 AM

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WFAA; GoFundMe

Stephany Gauffeny; Miguel Ángel García-Hernández -

A North Texas widow is speaking out after she received her husband's immigration approval letter more than two months after he died following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility

Miguel Ángel García-Hernández was shot at least eight times in a sniper-style shooting on Sept. 24

His wife, Stephany Gauffeny received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday, Dec. 15. It was reportedly dated Dec. 9, meaning it was sent over two months after his death

A North Texas widow is speaking out after being sent an immigration approval letter from officials over two months after her husband died following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility.

Miguel Ángel García-Hernández became the second victim to die after he was shot at least eight times in a sniper-style shooting on Sept. 24, CBS News previously reported.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) confirmed García-Hernández's death in an earlier post, and wrote that he'd been taken to Parkland Hospital in a critical condition after the attack, but had later succumbed to his injuries after being removed from life support.

Speaking to NBC 5 DFW, García-Hernández's wife, Stephany Gauffeny, who lives in Arlington, has now said that she received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday, Dec. 15, which confirmed her late husband's request to move forward with obtaining legal status in the U.S.

The letter was reportedly dated Dec. 9, meaning it was sent over two months after his death.

GoFundMe

Miguel Ángel García-Hernández

At the time of the shooting, García-Hernández, 31, a Mexican national, was being held in federal custody after being arrested for a DWI in Arlington back in August, NBC 5 DFW reported.

Gauffeny told the outlet of receiving the letter, “It was under his name, and I had no idea what it was, opened it and instantly started crying because the first thing you see is, 'You’ve been approved.’ ”

She added to the station that García-Hernández had been working for years to obtain legal status in the U.S., insisting, “It’s something we were waiting for, for two years.”

The approval meant García-Hernández would have been able to start applying for a visa or green card. “It’s right before Christmas time, and it’s hurtful because if he would have been here, it would have been the total opposite. It would have been a moment of happiness,” Gauffeny told NBC 5 DFW.

“I know he would have been really happy,” she added to the outlet. “The grief is always going to be there. It’s never going to be the same as it was.”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.

García-Hernández and Gauffeny married in 2016, nearly 10 years before he was fatally shot, The Guardian previously reported.

Gauffeny told the outlet in October in her first interview after García-Hernández's death, “I am trying to cope because that’s what I am supposed to do, but what hurts me the most is to hear my kids ask where daddy is.”

“My [8-year-old] daughter with autism waited for him until the last minute. They would talk over the phone while he was detained, but one day before the funeral, I had to tell her that daddy was in heaven and that he would be watching her and that she wouldn’t see him,” she added.

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Gauffeny, who was pregnant at the time of her husband's death, recalled of the shooting, “I was coming back from a doctor’s appointment for my pregnancy and I was so excited to tell him about our son, but I got a call saying that my husband was in the hospital," The Guardian reported, adding, “I walked into the [hospital] room and I just started crying. His arms were restrained to the bed and he had handcuffs on his feet.”

García-Hernández died five days after the attack, on Sept. 29, the paper noted. His third child with Gauffeny was born three days later.

Gauffeny also spoke to WFAA before her husband's death, sharing, "He [is] just a great father, great husband, friend, brother, son... really funny personality," calling him "a goofball" who was always "making jokes, making everyone laugh."

"Always helping people," she added.

Gauffeny said after her husband's death, "My husband Miguel was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family," per the LULAC post.

"We had just bought our first home together, and he worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed. His death is a senseless tragedy that has left our family shattered. I do not know how to explain to our children that their father is gone,” she added.

A GoFundMe page previously set up to raise money for the family had raised over $87,000 as of Thursday, Dec. 18.

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