Trial begins in case of Gujarati family that froze to death crossing US-Canada border

Almost three years after four of a family from Gujarat froze to death while trying to cross into the US from Canada, a Minnesota court began trial against two people accused of human smuggling.

Federal prosecutors have accused Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel (unrelated to those dead) and Steve Anthony Shand of human trafficking, criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the US state of Minnesota. Both have pleaded not guilty of the tragic demise involving Jagdish Patel, 39, from Gujarat, his wife Vaishaliben, daughter Vihangi, 11 and son Dharmik, 3. They were traced after US Border Patrol agents chanced upon a man driving a van near the US-Canada border and carrying a backpack with children’s clothing and toys in it.

A subsequent search operation led the Canadian cops to find the deceased family in Manitoba field, barely 12 metres from the US border.

Prosecutors said the family that came to Canada on visitor visas was trying to enter the US when they got trapped in a blizzard with temperatures falling to minus 35° Celsius.

The charges against the two accused speak of a criminal network smuggling Indians seeking to migrate to the US.

Accusations are that Patel hired Shand at a casino near their homes in Florida; Patel primarily ran the network and on the fateful morning of January 2022 when the four Indians died in a blizzard, Shand was waiting in a truck for 11 migrants including the deceased couple and their kids who died while walking and being trapped in chilly conditions.

Since the demise of Patels on January 19, 2022, at least two more families have died trying to illegally cross the US-Canada border.

The Patel family that died had got in touch with the main alleged smuggling kingpin Harshkumar through an Indian firm engaged in arranging student visas to help people enter Canada before sending them to the US.

Court documents in the case reveal that Shand, responsible for transporting illegal immigrants, had flagged to Harshkumar the extreme weather conditions on January 19, 2022, asking him to make sure those travelling were dressed for blizzard conditions.

The body of three-year-old Dharmik, wrapped in a blanket, was discovered in the arms of his father Jagdish, also dead.