Two men accused in fatal border crossing to stand trial in Minnesota

Manitoba RCMP search an area near the Canada-U.S. border on Jan. 19, 2022, where the bodies of four people, including a baby were found. (Source: Manitoba RCMP)

Two men are to stand trial on human smuggling charges this week, almost three years after a family from India was found frozen to death on the border between Manitoba and Minnesota.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand are accused of being part of a large operation that brought Indian nationals 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 placing lives in jeopardy.

Prosecutors allege Patel co-ordinated with smugglers in Canada to have migrants dropped off near the border, where they would walk until they entered the United States and be picked up by Shand.

In court documents, prosecutors say one such operation occurred in blizzard conditions on Jan. 19, 2022, when the wind chill was below -35 C. The location was an open field on the bald prairie, exposed to the elements, near the town of Emerson, Man.

"Despite knowing the risks, they had the migrants cross," a trial brief submitted by prosecutors reads.

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

They were part of a group of 11 people trying to get across the border undetected, and two of the group managed to find their way to Shand's van before authorities stepped in, the trial brief says.

"Five more migrants (later) emerged from the fields. One was so hypothermic that she was slipping in and out of consciousness and had severe frostbite on her nose and fingers."

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

The trial, scheduled to last five days, is to include evidence of texts between Patel and Shand in which they discussed the severe weather and the time and co-ordinates for pickup, court documents show.

The family who died was from Dingucha, a village of about 3,000 people in the Gujarat state of western India.

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

He said his son held different jobs, including teaching, farming and selling kites, but nothing worked out in India.

His son reached out when the family got to Canada, and he was happy they were going to the U.S., the father said.

Prosecutors say the list of potential witnesses includes someone who was part of the alleged human smuggling operation and sent many of the Jan. 19, 2022 migrants to Manitoba after he was unable to take them from British Columbia into Washington state.

The accused are alleged to have smuggled dozens of people across the border in the weeks before.

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