FERGUS FALLS, MN - On Friday, November 23rd, a jury convicted two men on charge related to human smuggling for their role in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze to death while trying to cross the U.S-Canada border during a 2022 blizzard.
According to NBC News, prosecutors said that 29-year-old Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, an Indian national who went by the alias "Dirty Harry" and 50-year-old Steve Shand, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought increasing numbers of Indians into the United States.
Both men were convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the United States illegally. Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said, "This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity."
Luger added, "To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother, and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border."
Before the trial took place, the U.S. Attorney's Office said that the most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas and Luger said that various factors will be considered in determining what sentences prosecutors will recommend.
Federal prosecutors said that 39-year-old Jagish Patel, his wife, Vaishaliben who was in her 30s, their 11-year-old daughter and three-year-old son froze to death on January 19th, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme Patel and Shand organized. The couple were schoolteachers and was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and wide veranda.
Before the jury's conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents, and forensic experts.
Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found the Patel family later that morning, dead from the cold. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel.
The trial included an inside account of how the international smuggling ring allegedly works and who it targets. Rajinder Singh testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand. Singh said most of the people he smuggled came from Gujarat state.
He said the migrants would often pay smugglers about $100,000 to get them from India to the United States, where they would work to pay off their debts at low-wage jobs in cities around the country. Singh said the smugglers would run their finances through "hawala," and informal money transfer system that relies on trust.
The pipeline of illegal immigration from India to the U.S. has long existed, but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending September 30th, which amounted to 60 percent of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.
Jamie Holt, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations said that the case is a stark reminder of the realities victims of human smuggling face. Holt said, "Human smuggling is a vile crime that preys on the most vulnerable, exploiting their desperation and dreams for a better life. The suffering endured by this family is unimaginable and it is our duty to ensure that such atrocities are met with the full force of the law."
According to NBC News, prosecutors said that 29-year-old Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, an Indian national who went by the alias "Dirty Harry" and 50-year-old Steve Shand, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought increasing numbers of Indians into the United States.
Both men were convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the United States illegally. Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said, "This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity."
Luger added, "To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother, and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border."
Before the trial took place, the U.S. Attorney's Office said that the most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas and Luger said that various factors will be considered in determining what sentences prosecutors will recommend.
Federal prosecutors said that 39-year-old Jagish Patel, his wife, Vaishaliben who was in her 30s, their 11-year-old daughter and three-year-old son froze to death on January 19th, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme Patel and Shand organized. The couple were schoolteachers and was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and wide veranda.
Before the jury's conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents, and forensic experts.
Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found the Patel family later that morning, dead from the cold. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel.
The trial included an inside account of how the international smuggling ring allegedly works and who it targets. Rajinder Singh testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand. Singh said most of the people he smuggled came from Gujarat state.
He said the migrants would often pay smugglers about $100,000 to get them from India to the United States, where they would work to pay off their debts at low-wage jobs in cities around the country. Singh said the smugglers would run their finances through "hawala," and informal money transfer system that relies on trust.
The pipeline of illegal immigration from India to the U.S. has long existed, but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending September 30th, which amounted to 60 percent of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.
Jamie Holt, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations said that the case is a stark reminder of the realities victims of human smuggling face. Holt said, "Human smuggling is a vile crime that preys on the most vulnerable, exploiting their desperation and dreams for a better life. The suffering endured by this family is unimaginable and it is our duty to ensure that such atrocities are met with the full force of the law."
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