DALLAS — A senior official at the Department of Homeland Security identified the three immigrant detainees who were victims in the shooting Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas.
The senior DHS official familiar with the case told NBC News on Friday the three were Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez of Mexico, Jose Andres Bordones-Molina of Venezuela, and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes. The official did not say what country Guzman-Fuentes was from.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on which of the men was killed, the extent of the injuries of the other two, and details about criminal allegations made against the men by the agency.
On Monday, DHS said in a statement that detainee Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, was killed while in ICE custody when he “suffered a senseless and tragic fatal gunshot wound during a senseless sniper assault on the ICE Dallas Field Office.”
The statement said Guzman-Fuentes was from El Salvador and was in the country illegally.
When they arrived at the ICE Dallas Field Office, officers “encountered an active shooter at the facility, targeting immigration officials. Regretfully, Guzman was one the victims of this tragic incident which resulted in his death,” DHS said.
ICE notified DHS, the Office of the Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, as per policy, according to the statement.
The agency said it also “provided telephone notification of the death to the Consulate of El Salvador.”
The men were wounded on Wednesday when a gunman who targeted ICE agents and employees opened fire on the agency’s field office in Dallas, federal officials said. No ICE agents were injured in the attack, but one detainee was fatally shot and two others were injured.
NBC News has not yet been able to independently verify the criminal allegations against the men, and the official at the agency did not immediately respond to request for comment for additional details. NBC News has not yet been able to reach the families of the men and it was not clear if any of them had immigration attorneys.
Garcia-Hernandez was described by the senior official as an immigrant from Mexico living in the country illegally, whose criminal history included “convictions for giving fictitious information, evading arrest, driving while intoxicated, and fleeing police.”
A man who identified himself as Garcia-Hernandez’s sibling told a local Dallas Univision station that his 32-year-old brother was shot in the side, back, stomach and neck and remained in critical condition in a local hospital.
He said his brother had undergone two surgeries and that doctors “want to disconnect him because the machine is the only thing that keeps him alive.”
The brother, who was identified as Fernando, said Garcia had been living in the U.S. for 20 years and was a painter.
NBC News had reached out to Garcia’s relatives through a family associate but they have not responded to a request for an interview.
Bordones-Molina was described as an immigrant man from Venezuela living in the country illegally. The DHS official said on Friday his “criminal history includes theft of property and a traffic offense.”
On Monday, the agency said it did not know when Guzman-Fuentes entered the United States, but that records for him date back to February 2012, when police in Palm Springs, Florida, allegedly “arrested and charged him for battery, improper exhibit of a firearm or dangerous weapon and criminal mischief.”
“All charges were dropped minus the criminal mischief,” DHS said. It did not give details about the incident. NBC News could not immediately verify the criminal allegations.
DHS alleged in its statement that in February 2020, police in Arlington, Texas, allegedly arrested and charged Guzman-Fuentes with driving while intoxicated, and that he bonded out of custody.
In August, Guzman-Fuentes was allegedly charged by Dallas police with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and an outstanding warrant for driving while intoxicated,” according to DHS, which added that ICE then encountered him at the Dallas County Jail and lodged an immigration detainer against him.
In September, the charge for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was dismissed, according to DHS. The agency did not provide additional details about the alleged incident.
Guzman-Fuentes, was arrested on Sept. 24 based on his immigration detainer, the agency said.
The shooting has left some members of the city’s immigrant community anxious and uncertain, especially as questions remained about the victims.
“The government should do its job and make sure that it fully investigates this and that it’s transparent with the victims, the families of the victims, and with the community,” said Rochelle Garza, an attorney and the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, who called for more transparency and information about the victims.
The uncertainty is creating more stress for people who have been dealing with increased immigration enforcement operations, Garza said. Families whose loved ones have been recently detained by ICE could be concerned that their loved ones were at the Dallas facility during the shooting.
An ICE official told NBC News on Thursday morning that there were between eight and 10 detainees in the van when the gunman opened fire.
An ICE spokesperson said a consulate was working to locate next of kin for at least one victim. Each of the three victims are from different countries, the spokesperson said. The agency is required to publish a notice about the death of any detainee in custody within 48 hours of the death and of the next of kin being notified, according to a 2025 agency directive.
ICE is also required to notify next of kin, the appropriate consulate, relevant DHS and ICE stakeholders and Congress about each detainee death.
Guillermo Hernandez, an immigration attorney based in Texas, said attorneys have had issues with tracking down the whereabouts of their clients, an issue that the shooting brought into focus.
“To advocate for your client, you have to know where they are,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen that there’s not necessarily the best transparency when it comes to detainees, when it comes to immigrants being transferred. They move immigrants around detention centers from one day to the next.”
“We should be able to know and figure out at what point in the immigration process they were. Did they have attorneys? Did they have a case pending?” he added.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on concerns from attorneys and relatives on being informed of the whereabouts of the detainees who were moved from the Dallas facility following the shooting.
Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that one of the injured is a Mexican national who was receiving medical treatment at a hospital, but has not identified Garcia Hernandez and has not responded to a request for comment on his identity or his medical condition. The ministry said Thursday morning they had spoken to the wife of the Mexican national who was injured in the shooting.
Roberto Velasco Álvarez, the chief officer for North America at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in Spanish on social media that he “conveyed our support during this difficult moment” and reiterated Mexico’s solidarity with the victim’s family.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told NBC News on Wednesday that the agency is “charged with their protection, their custody,” referring to the detainees. “Nothing like that should happen.”
Authorities have said agents with both ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pulled some detainees out of the line of fire during the shooting in Dallas.
“The shooter was just shooting at random vehicles inside,” Lyons said. “They were still hit inside the vehicle. You know, there were some brave men and women on the ground that went into those vans pulling those detainees out while they were under fire.”
Questions remain about what comes next for the detainees who were in the van during the shooting.
Marcos Charles, ICE’s field office director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, said at a news conference Thursday that those people “will be going through due process” and their immigration proceedings. He did not provide additional details about their status.
“We encourage the families to get copies of the police incident report and to also contact their consulates,” he said.
All of the detainees at the targeted site were temporarily moved from the Dallas Processing Facility to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, according to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. It was not immediately clear whether the detainees were then sent to other locations or transferred back to the Dallas processing facility.
Suzanne Gamboa reported from Dallas, Laura Strickler and Gabe Gutierrez reported from Washington, D.C., and Daniella Silva from New York.
