Indian family's tragic death leads to conviction of human smugglers attempting illegal border crossing.
The group of 11 people trying to enter Minnesota from Canada included migrants.
In Minnesota, two human smugglers were convicted this week after the deaths of an Indian family, including two children, who froze during a blizzard in 2022 while trying to illegally cross into the U.S. from Canada.
In Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, and Steve Shand, 50, were convicted of four charges, including conspiring to smuggle migrants into the country unlawfully.
Patel is an Indian national and Shand is a U.S. citizen from Florida.
""Human smuggling is a heinous crime that prioritizes profit and greed over the safety and well-being of individuals, as evidenced by the tragic deaths of a family who froze to death on the Minnesota-Canadian border while trying to enter the United States," said Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger in a statement."
In January 2022, Jagdish Patel, his wife Vaishaliben, and their children, daughter Vihangi and son Dharmik, all died of hypothermia while trying to illegally enter Minnesota through an operation led by Harshkumar Patel and Shand. The family was not related to Harshkumar Patel.
"Juror Kevin Paul described the weather conditions during the trial of the family's attempt to cross as "brutal." He added, "I couldn't fathom having to endure what they did in the middle of nowhere.""
The family was one of 11 migrants in the group who attempted to cross to Minnesota in January. Tragically, only seven survived, and the family was discovered dead the following day by Canadian authorities.
"Human smuggling is a heinous crime that targets the most vulnerable, taking advantage of their desperation and aspirations for a better life," Special Agent Jamie Holt of Homeland Security Investigations stated. "The agony experienced by this family is beyond comprehension, and it is our responsibility to ensure that such crimes are met with the full weight of the law."
An international smuggling ring that helped Indians illegally cross the border was orchestrated by Patel, also known as "Dirty Harry," with Patel serving as the driver, according to prosecutors.
A human smuggler who was part of a ring testified during a trial that he made over $400,000 smuggling more than 500 Indian migrants across the U.S. border. These migrants typically work low-wage jobs in the U.S. to pay off their debts to the smugglers, which can be as high as $100,000.
Depending on the prosecutors' recommendation, the pair could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
While Shand's defense team asserted that he was unknowingly involved in the scheme, Patel's lawyers maintained that the accusations against him were a case of mistaken identity.
In the year that ended on Sept. 30, over 14,000 Indian migrants were apprehended at the Canadian border while attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.
The number of arrests made along the border due to this factor has increased tenfold in the past two years, accounting for 60% of all arrests.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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