The Daily Populous Saturday October 25th, 2025 day edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by apple_kicks

A few hours before the Texas sun set, Stephany Gauffeny held her newborn son close to her chest as she started walking in a cemetery. The grave she stopped at had no headstone, but Gauffeny, 32, had written her husband’s name on a red ribbon.

She married Miguel García-Hernández in 2016, nearly 10 years before he was shot at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas in late September.

“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,” said Gauffeny, speaking to the Guardian in her first interview since his death.

“My eight-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.”

García-Hernández ended up in ICE custody early on 24 September after a short time in jail for a DUI. That same morning, while he was shackled inside a government van, a gunman opened fire outside the ICE field office in Dallas where he was awaiting intake.

View image in fullscreen Miguel García-Hernández with his wife, Stephany Gauffeny. Photograph: League of United Latin American Citizens

Federal authorities have said the attacker was targeting ICE officials, but only detainees were hurt, including García-Hernández, 31, who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

“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,” said Gauffeny, switching between English and Spanish intermittently.

“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 on 29 September from his gunshot wounds. His third child with Gauffeny was born three days later. He would have turned 32 on 5 January, the day of their 10th wedding anniversary, Gauffeny said as she stood sorrowfully in front of García-Hernández’s grave.

She believes the rising political violence and anti-immigration agenda in the US played a part in her husband’s violent death.

The couple had been focusing hard on the new home they bought a few months ago in Arlington, on the outskirts of Dallas. There, they lived with their children, as well as two girls from Gauffeny’s previous relationship whom García-Hernández had helped raise.

“He talked about little projects like turning the garage into a room, painting some parts of the house, getting a new fence and doing it all by himself,” said Gauffeny, her voice cracking.

“It hurts to look around now, you know? Who is going to do it?”

García-Hernández was born in San Luis Potosí, a central state in Mexico, and crossed the US border without papers when he was 14. Though the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program has benefited hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants with similar cases since 2012, he arrived just too early to qualify.

García-Hernández lived in the Dallas area for nearly two decades, most recently making a living painting and remodeling homes. Gauffeny said he had applied for a Biden administration initiative, dubbed Keeping Families Together, that was designed to allow the undocumented spouses of US citizens to get legal status. However, a federal judge in Texas blocked the policy just a few months after it started.

View image in fullscreen Flowers at the gravesite of Miguel García-Hernández in Arlington, Texas. Photograph: Desiree Rios/The Guardian

Martina Alvarado, a lawyer who tried to help García-Hernández fix his immigration status, said he was awaiting a waiver that, if granted, would effectively erase his illegal entry into the US and allow him to get a green card based on his marriage to an American citizen.

Gauffeny said her husband was planning to open his own painting company as soon as his immigration case was resolved, and he had been saving money for the equipment.

Since Donald Trump took office for a second time, his administration has aggressively expanded immigration raids across the country, granting deportation agents a broad mandate to target those in the country without proper documents, even if they’re not criminals. The crackdown has spurred massive protests and growing concerns over tactics by federal agents.

The contentious climate around immigration under the Trump administration can also be palpable far from the neighborhoods and the streets where federal agents roam. After the shooting and the death of García-Hernández, Gauffeny said she received hateful messages from strangers on social media.

“Some comments said they were happy that it happened because he shouldn’t have been here illegally,” said Gauffeny.

“He and I never hid the fact he entered illegally, you know, but what I keep saying is that he didn’t deserve that and we’re going to fight this.”

Eric Cedillo, a Dallas attorney who has been helping Gauffeny since the shooting, said they are contemplating filing a lawsuit, without specifying details at that time.

García-Hernández’s mother, Maria García, was deported to Mexico earlier this year and was initially unable to see her son when he was hospitalized. But she was allowed into the US after the Mexican government intervened. In a statement, Mexico’s foreign ministry said “an extraordinary humanitarian parole was arranged for García-Hernández’s mother to travel to the US”.

The statement did not provide information on what, if any, economic assistance has or will be given to Gauffeny to cover expenses related to García-Hernández’s funeral.

View image in fullscreen Stephany Gauffeny, 32, visits the gravesite of her husband, Miguel García-Hernández, with their newborn baby, Miles Alexander García, in Arlington, Texas, on 15 October. Photograph: Desiree Rios/The Guardian

At the funeral, a Mexican flag was laid next to his grave by the Brown Berets of North Texas, a community defense group that runs an “ICE Watch” in the area. When Stephany visited with newborn Miles Alexander last week, the flag was gone but some roses remained.

Gauffeny said that securing the burial site was possible thanks to money donated to a GoFundMe page created by her sister-in-law. There is no headstone on García-Hernández’s grave yet because she cannot afford it.

“My biggest concern now is to have a place to live in the future. Our mortgage is very expensive and we were already struggling when he was detained. I am scared for my kids,” Gauffeny said.

Before leaving the cemetery in Arlington, Gauffeny recalled that her husband had bought a Bible in Spanish while in the custody of Tarrant county for the DUI. Days after his death, his belongings came in the mail, including the Bible, which he had bookmarked.

She said: “It was on a page in Genesis. He wanted to read the Bible from the start to the end but couldn’t continue because he was killed.”

Choice-of-SteinsGate on October 25th, 2025 at 05:54 UTC »

Trump supporters are demanding to know why the millions protesting against him are calling him "king."

Well, here's a list of "grievances" if you will:

The Trump family has monetized the presidency to the tune of billions; exploiting Trump's political power to secure cryptocurrency investments, business and real estate deals overseas, financial and political contributions from wealthy figures, corporations and foreign governments looking to literally purchase favors, influence and access to the president.

Trump has turned the presidency into a moneymaking scheme. His many conflicts of interest have raised ethical and legal red flags. The Trump family and administration are engaging in massive insider enrichment and the government's kleptocratic policies resemble how authoritarian regimes centralize economic power to line the pockets of a small number of political and wealthy elites while most citizens suffer economic hardship.

Trump's transformation into a dictator can be seen in the juxtaposition between visuals of the hideously gilded Oval Office, Trump's garishly decorated ballroom and descriptions of detainment centers which depict such horrid conditions that they resemble concentration camps.

The Trump regime is plagued by rampant cronyism, corruption and favoritism. Loyalty is a priority in Trump's circle and plays a major role in securing power and influence within his administration. Trump has issued pardons to his corrupt lackeys and co-conspirators; signaling to his political allies that they can commit crimes without fear of legal backlash.

Obstruction of justice is a privilege for Donald Trump. His party has helped him repeatedly escape accountability by subverting the court system, establishing blanket immunities for the president, by dismantling oversight and creating a unitary executive beholden to no one.

Trump has expressed that he is above the law. He has posted statements like, "He who saves his country does not violate any law," implying that he is entitled to act outside of all legal constraints.

Trump has claimed authority over independent agencies and has transformed the DOJ into his own personal legal arm. He is exploiting the power of the justice department to target and prosecute his political opponents without evidence.

Trump is abusing his executive powers to normalize punishing those who have exposed his criminality and corruption in the past. He intends to weaponize every agency and power of the federal government to seek retribution against his critics, his opponents, and anyone who has ever tried to hold him accountable. He has also directed the DOJ to fire US attorneys and prosecutors who do not toe the line; consolidating prosecutorial power under his administration.

Trump has appointed loyalists into director positions within agencies like the FCC where they carry out his authoritarian whims against his critics in the media; applying regulatory pressures on companies to silence those who criticize him and/or his policies.

The Trump admin has flagged "unpatriotic" and ideologically "diverse" content for removal from federal property.

The government is violating free speech, defunding independent journalism, suppressing the arts and intellectual, whitewashing history, stifling the press, and amassing control over how and what information is being shared to the public.

Trump has been abusing his powers to declare needless "emergencies" and enact record breaking numbers of executive orders—many of them unconstitutional.

He is employing these unlawful tactics to carry out excessive national security measures and to wage war on the American people. He is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act while federalizing local law enforcement and the military to centralize authoritarian control over US cities. He is also deploying these troops without consent from the states. These measures are not intended to "reduce crime" or drive back some imaginary "rebellion," but to crackdown on protestors and dissent, to suspend civil liberties and to terrorize the public.

Interventionism and expansionism are justified when it suits Trump's political goals or narratives. He is carrying out extrajudicial killings and war crimes; threatening our allies; currying favor with dictators; instigating trade wars; unilaterally intervening in foreign affairs.

The Trump admin's "law and order" rhetoric is inciting hostilities towards immigrants, marginalized groups and minorities. To Trump and his allies, "law and order" means punishing your enemies.

This obsession with crime and punishment is reflected in Trump's militarization of domestic policy, in his admin's disregard for people's constitutional rights, in Trump's attacks and threats aimed at judges and law firms, in his unjustified prosecutions of his political opponents, in his weaponization of the DOJ, and in his deputizing of masked ICE agents.

Trump has been deploying armies of hostile and unrestrained ICE agents around the country who are concealing their identities and violently arresting, detaining and deporting thousands of people without due process. They are terrorizing citizens, throwing people into unmarked vehicles, acting as law enforcement, profiling their targets, and suppressing civil rights and liberties.

Trump has been violating the constitution, flouting the law, defying court orders, bypassing checks and balances, abusing impoundment procedures, overstepping congressional authority, and defiling democratic norms.

He is undermining the constitution by seeking to end birthright citizenship and the two term presidential limit. He has also repeatedly violated constitutional principles and clauses, expressly those contained within the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and fourteenth amendments, not excluding the separation of powers and the citizenship clause.

The MAGA coalition is concentrating power into the hands of the president who is issuing autocratic decrees while disregarding legislative and judicial oversight; interpreting laws however the president and his attorney general see fit; defunding and cancelling programs enacted into law; raising taxes without approval; instituting unilateral and illegal tariffs; withholding congressionally appropriated funds; undermining checks and balances.

Trump is abusing his power to strong-arm universities; demanding that they hand control over academic decision making to the government.

He is making excessive demands of these private institutions and cracking down on student protestors while requiring that they be vetted and reported on and that universities teach government approved viewpoints.

Trump's actions, rhetoric and imagery resembles that of a monarch. He is a self-styled king. From his gilded decor and his immodest "renovations" of the White House, to his vainglorious, taxpayer funded projects designed in his tribute. From the many "gifts" that his wealthy flatterers have bestowed on him in exchange for political favors, to his messages online that include literal images of him wearing a crown and referring to himself as "KING." Even official White House accounts amplify these posts and images.

Lastly, Donald Trump facilitated an insurrection at our Capital in order to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Trump and his MAGA allies are consolidating power at an alarming rate and have been exploiting their voter's confidence in Trump's lies to suppress the vote, and to deny and subvert elections under the deceitful guise of combatting election fraud.

rosierho on October 25th, 2025 at 05:48 UTC »

I hope there's an investigation into who actually shot the bullets... The article says they appeared to be targeting ICE officers but if that's the case, why would they have been aiming at the vehicle where the victim was?

IMHO raises questions of whether or not it was actually ICE shooting. Or whether they were using the detainee(s) as meat shields.

steathrazor on October 25th, 2025 at 05:38 UTC »

And he won't be the last if ice is allowed to do this BS at their death camps God damn Gestapo