A second detainee wounded in last week's deadly shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas has succumbed to his injuries, his family announced Tuesday, elevating the toll to two deaths and intensifying scrutiny on the nation's immigration enforcement amid escalating political debates. Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a 32-year-old Mexican national, passed away after being removed from life support, according to a statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a prominent civil rights organisation advocating for Latino communities since 1929.
The attack, which unfolded on September 24 at the bustling North Texas Processing Centre, has amplified fears among immigrants and sparked calls for enhanced facility security as the U.S. grapples with record border encounters exceeding 2.5 million annually, per U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
The incident involved 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, a local resident with a history of anti-government rhetoric documented on social media, who authorities say fired over 50 rounds indiscriminately from a rooftop 300 yards away using a semi-automatic rifle. Jahn, who professed hatred for federal agencies and aimed to "incite terror" by targeting ICE personnel, ultimately took his own life after a brief standoff with responding officers, according to the FBI's preliminary investigation. No ICE staff were injured, but three detainees—Garcia-Hernandez, Norlan Guzman-Fuentes (37, killed instantly), and a third man still in critical condition—bore the brunt.
Guzman-Fuentes, a Guatemalan asylum seeker detained since July on misdemeanour charges, was identified Monday as the initial fatality. The facility, which processes thousands of cases monthly, including deportations and asylum claims, was evacuated without further casualties, highlighting vulnerabilities in such sites amid a surge in domestic extremism cases tracked by the Department of Homeland Security.
Garcia-Hernandez's wife, Stephany Gauffeny, described her husband as "a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family" in the LULAC statement. The couple, who had recently purchased their first home in suburban Dallas, shared four children, with Gauffeny expecting their fifth. "We had just bought our first home together, and he worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed," she said.
"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." Garcia-Hernandez, detained for overstaying a visa while pursuing work in construction, represented the human cost of America's fractured immigration system, where backlogs exceed 3 million cases at immigration courts, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
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The shooting occurs against a backdrop of intensified ICE operations under the Biden administration's policies, which have deported over 142,000 individuals in fiscal year 2025 so far—fewer than Trump's peak but enough to fuel backlash from both progressive activists decrying family separations and conservative critics demanding stricter enforcement. Immigrant rights groups like LULAC and the ACLU have condemned the violence while urging congressional action on comprehensive reform, including pathways to citizenship for long-term residents.
Federal officials, including ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson, expressed condolences and vowed a thorough probe into Jahn's motives, potentially linking to broader online radicalisation trends. As Dallas' Latino community—comprising 42% of the city's population—mourns, the tragedy underscores the perilous intersection of extremism and enforcement, prompting renewed debates on protecting vulnerable detainees in an era of heightened polarisation.
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