Nearly three years after a couple from India and their two young children froze to death trying to cross the border from Canada into the U.S., two men face trial on human smuggling charges, accused of being part of a criminal network that stretched around the world. Prosecutors say Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, ran part of the scheme and recruited Steve Shand, 50, of Florida, to shuttle migrants across the border. Both men have pleaded not guilty in federal court in Minnesota. They will stand trial before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim starting Monday, reports the Associated Press. On Jan. 19, 2022, Shand was allegedly waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including the family of four from the village of Dingucha. Prosecutors say Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; the couple’s 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, died after spending hours wandering fields in blizzard conditions as the wind chill reached minus 36 degrees.
Patel is a common Indian surname and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel. Federal prosecutors say Harshkumar Patel and Shand were part of an operation that scouted clients in India, got them Canadian student visas, arranged transportation and smuggled them into the U.S., mostly through Washington state or Minnesota. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending this Sept. 30. By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates more than 725,000 Indians were living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans. Harshkumar Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told APs that his client came to the U.S. to escape poverty and build a better life for himself and now “stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime. He has faith in the justice system of his adopted country and believes that the truth will come out at the trial.” Patel was in the U.S. illegally after being refused a U.S. visa at least five times. He allegedly recruited Shand at a casino near their homes in Deltona, Fla., north of Orlando.
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