By Alaa Elassar, Norma Galeana, Ed Lavandera, Ashley Killough, CNN

Dallas (CNN) — The wife of one of the detainees shot in the attack on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas earlier this week says her husband is nearly unrecognizable: unconscious and ravaged by bullets as machines do the work of keeping him alive.

The detainees, identified by a source familiar with the investigation as Miguel Ángel García-Hernandez of Mexico, Jose Andres Bordones-Molina of Venezuela and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, were shot while they were in a van at the facility’s fortified sally port, a controlled entry point commonly found in prisons and on military bases, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The shooter has been identified by investigators as Joshua Jahn, 29.

ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan told Fox News the three victims were awaiting transfer to a longer-term facility.

Investigators believe the gunman – who died from a self-inflicted gunshot at the scene – harbored “hatred for the federal government” and intended to target ICE personnel and property – even though all three victims were detainees, officials said.

“The tragic irony for his evil plot here is that it was a detainee who was killed and two other detainees that were injured,” Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Here’s what we know about the victims.

A father with a baby on the way

The last time Stephany Gauffeny saw her husband, he was smiling, full of life, and waving to her from across a courtroom.

The next time she saw García-Hernandez, bullets had torn through his urethra, tailbone and shoulder. Another struck an artery in his neck that connects to the brain.

A nurse estimated the 31-year-old father was shot eight or nine times, Gauffeny said. Doctors have operated on his stomach. His condition is so critical, they weren’t sure he’d survive through the night.

“I just started crying immediately as I walked into the room,” Gauffeny, 32, told CNN on Saturday.

“He’s all swollen, staples on his head, a bunch of tubes going down his throat,” she said. “He’s in really bad shape, and I really wouldn’t want anyone to see him like that because that’s not him.”

On August 8, he was arrested for a DUI and booked into a local jail. The next day, immigration authorities detained him. A source familiar with the investigation said García-Hernandez was in the US illegally and was previously convicted of “giving fictitious information, evading arrest, driving while intoxicated, and fleeing police.”

García-Hernandez, who is originally from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, has lived in the United States since he was 13 years old, and worked as a painter, Gauffeny said.

When Gauffeny arrived, her husband’s arms were restrained to the bed, and his feet were cuffed. After she spoke up, an ICE official told her the shackles could be removed temporarily, but warned they might be replaced with zip ties.

“I feel like that’s not giving him the proper respect – him being unconscious and can’t move, can’t talk and still treated like a criminal,” Gauffeny said.

ICE only allows Gauffeny to see him for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, she said, and ICE agents remain in the room during her visits.

“It’s hard,” she said, her voice breaking. “It’s like everything all at one time.”

García-Hernandez’s mother was deported two months ago and is asking to be able to return to the US to see her son, his brother, Fernando Gutiérrez, told CNN affiliate KUVN.

García-Hernandez “is the sole provider for his family,” according to a verified GoFundMe campaign. The civil rights organization the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is supporting the family and other victims of the Dallas shooting by providing guidance and legal counsel.

“Our mission is to support families in need during times of emergency and we will continue to do so in spite of the escalating assault against immigrants regardless of their immigration status,” LULAC spokesperson Juan Proaño told CNN.

The couple had already picked out a name for their new son. Now, Gauffeny sits by García-Hernandez’s bedside every day, whispering hope into his ear.

“Every day that I see him, I hold his hand, I talk to him, I tell him, ‘I know you can hear me. Keep fighting. Your kids miss you. Your kids love you. I miss you,” she said, crying. “I just tell him, ‘Don’t give up. It’s not your fault this happened.’”

“These were human beings”

The source also said Bordones-Molina was in the US illegally and had a criminal history, including a traffic offense and property theft.

The third shooting victim, Guzman-Fuentes, was previously arrested “for battery, improper exhibit of a firearm or dangerous weapon, criminal mischief, driving while intoxicated, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” the source told CNN.

Authorities have said one detainee was killed and two were injured during Wednesday’s attack, in which a gunman fired at the ICE facility from a nearby roof. The source did not identify the deceased victim.

The other detainees who witnessed the shooting were unharmed and will continue immigration proceedings, officials said on Thursday.

While statements from authorities have so far largely focused on the investigation, Dallas-based immigration attorney Jaime Barron, who isn’t representing any of the victims, said the injured and killed detainees should be included in more of the conversation.

“We should focus on the humanity,” Barron told CNN. “These were human beings, and they were killed and severely hurt while being under the protection of the US government.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Ruben Correa, Matthew Rehbein and Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.