Two men accused in deadly border crossing to stand trial in Minnesota – SteinbachOnline.com

Almost three years after a family from India froze to death at the border between Manitoba and Minnesota, two men will stand trial this week on human trafficking charges.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand are accused of being part of a massive operation that brought Indian citizens to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them across the United States border.

The men have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to transport aliens, causing serious bodily injury and endangering lives.

Prosecutors allege Patel coordinated with smugglers in Canada to drop off immigrants near the border, where they would walk until they entered the U.S. and were picked up by Shand.

In court documents, prosecutors say one such operation took place on January 19, 2022, during blizzard conditions with wind chills below -35 C. The location of the operation was an open area exposed to the elements in the bald meadow near the town. Emerson, man.

The hearing report submitted by prosecutors includes the following statement: “Despite knowing the risks, they brought the immigrants across.”

Later the same day, the frozen bodies of 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37; Their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found in a field just meters from the border.

The trial transcript states that they were part of a group of 11 people who tried to cross the border undetected, and two of the group managed to find their way to Shand’s van before authorities intervened.

“Five more migrants (later) emerged from the fields. One was so hypothermic that he was in and out of consciousness and had severe frostbite on his nose and fingers.”

RCMP in Manitoba have not made any arrests north of the border but said the investigation is ongoing.

The hearing, scheduled to last five days, will also include evidence of texts in which Patel and Shand discussed severe weather conditions and pickup times and coordinates, according to court documents.

The deceased family was from Dingucha, a village of about 3,000 people in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Baldev Patel told The Canadian Press in 2023 that he wasn’t sure how his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren decided on a route from Canada to the U.S. or who he sought help from.

He said that his son worked in different jobs such as teaching, farming and selling kites, but nothing was going well in India.

The father said his son reached out to him when the family arrived in Canada and was happy they were going to the United States.

Prosecutors say the list of potential witnesses includes someone who was part of the alleged human smuggling operation that sent most of the Jan. 19, 2022, migrants to Manitoba after failing to get them from British Columbia to Washington state.

The defendants allegedly smuggled dozens of people across the border in previous weeks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2024

This is a corrected story. In a previous story, the border crossing operation was said to take place in 2023.