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

A North Texas widow says she was stunned to receive an immigration approval letter addressed to her husband more than two months after he died from injuries sustained in a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility.

Miguel Ángel García-Hernández was shot at least eight times in what was described as a sniper-style attack on Sept. 24, CBS News previously reported. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) confirmed his death in an earlier post, saying he was taken to Parkland Hospital in critical condition and later died after being removed from life support.

García-Hernández’s wife, Stephany Gauffeny of Arlington, told NBC 5 DFW that she received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday, Dec. 15. The letter confirmed that her husband’s request to move forward with obtaining legal status in the United States had been approved.

The letter was reportedly dated Dec. 9 — meaning it was issued more than two months after García-Hernández died.

“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 said opening the letter was devastating. “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 told the outlet her husband had worked for years to obtain legal status. “It’s something we were waiting for, for two years,” she said.

The approval meant García-Hernández would have been able to begin 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,” she said.

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

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson said the agency “does not comment on individual immigration cases” when approached for additional information.

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

In October, Gauffeny spoke to The Guardian in her first interview after her husband’s death, describing how difficult it had been to explain the loss to their children. “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,” she said.

She added that her 8-year-old daughter, who has autism, waited for him “until the last minute.” While he was detained, the two spoke by phone, she said — but just before the funeral, she told her daughter “that daddy was in heaven and that he would be watching her and that she wouldn’t see him.”

Gauffeny, who was pregnant at the time, recalled learning about the shooting after returning from a doctor’s appointment. “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. She described arriving at the hospital room and breaking down in tears. “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. Their third child was born three days later.

Gauffeny also spoke to WFAA before her husband’s death, describing him as “just a great father, great husband, friend, brother, son… really funny personality,” and calling him “a goofball” who was always “making jokes, making everyone laugh.”

“Always helping people,” she added.

After his death, Gauffeny said, “My husband Miguel was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family,” according to 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.