Almost three years ago, a couple from India and their two children froze to death while trying to illegally cross the border from Canada into the United States. A trial surrounding their deaths will begin this week.
According to the Associated Press, Jagdish Patel tried to slip his family across a barren stretch of the Canadian border. That night, in January 2022, wind chills reached minus 36 Fahrenheit.
A driver, Steve Shand, 50, waited for them in northern Minnesota. He previously told his boss, “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please.” Shand is from Florida, according to The Independent.
Harshkumar Patel, 29, an experienced human smuggler, was coordinating the operation in Canada. He is not related to Jagdish Patel's family.
Harshkumar Patel and the Shand’s trial in Minnesota is scheduled to start Monday. They are accused of being part of a human smuggling operation focused on helping Indians cross illegally into the United States, the AP noted. Reportedly, both have pleaded not guilty (via AP):
Over the five weeks the two worked together, documents filed by prosecutors allege they spoke often about the bitter cold as they smuggled five groups of Indians over that quiet stretch of border.
“16 degrees cold as hell,” Shand messaged during an earlier trip. “They going to be alive when they get here?”
On the last trip, on Jan. 19, 2022, Shand was to pick up 11 more Indian migrants, including the Patels. Only seven survived.
Canadian authorities found the Patels later that morning, dead from the cold.
When he was discovered, Jagdish Patel was frozen to death with his arms wrapped around his 3-year-old son. His wife, Vaishaliben, and his 11-year-old daughter Vihangi, were deceased as well.
Proceedings are expected to last about five days. 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., primarily through Washington state or Minnesota.
AP noted that Harshkumar Patel was in the U.S. illegally after being refused a U.S. visa at least five times, and that he recruited Shand at a casino near their homes in Deltona, Florida, just north of Orlando. Shand reportedly told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five smuggling trips.