A Minnesota jury has convicted two men, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand, for their roles in smuggling an Indian family from Canada to the US, resulting in their deaths in January 2022. Both men were found guilty on all charges, including human trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The Patel family, whose bodies were discovered frozen in a Manitoba field just 12 meters (39 feet) from the US border, had traveled from India to Canada on visitor visas with plans to cross into the US.
The trial, which began on Monday and concluded on Friday, highlighted the dangers of human smuggling operations that help foreign nationals illegally enter North America. The jury deliberated for several hours before reaching a verdict. The two men will be sentenced at a later date and could each face up to 55 years in prison. The proceedings included testimony from a convicted migrant smuggler and a survivor from the same group that the Patel family had been traveling with.
Text messages exchanged between Patel and Shand were presented during the trial, revealing their discussions about travel logistics for migrants and the extreme weather conditions on the day the Patel family died. The bodies of Vaishaliben Patel, her husband Jagdish, and their two children, 11-year-old Vihangi and 3-year-old Dharmik, were found by Canadian police in January 2022 after they became stranded in a blizzard with temperatures as low as -35°C (-31°F). Prosecutors believe the family got separated from a larger group of migrants attempting to cross the border.
Authorities identified Harshkumar Patel as a key organizer of the smuggling operation, while Shand was arrested for planning to pick up the family and other migrants once they crossed into the US. In his closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Michael McBride criticized Shand for doing nothing to assist the Patels while they were “slowly dying in the freezing cold” and said Patel, who was texting from Florida, had also failed to help. McBride argued that both men prioritized profit over the lives of the migrants.
Shand’s defense team argued that he was unknowingly recruited by Patel and did not agree to participate in any crime. They urged the jury to scrutinize the testimony of witnesses and consider whether others were responsible for the deaths and to what extent.
The trial exposed the workings of a dangerous, international network of smugglers who trafficked immigrants across the US-Canada border for substantial profit, putting the lives of migrants at great risk. Among the witnesses was Rajinder Pal Singh, a convicted human smuggler, who testified that the Patel family had been in contact with another alleged smuggler, Fenil Patel, who had arranged for their illegal entry into the US. Fenil Patel, who lives in Toronto, has been charged by Indian authorities in connection with the family’s death.
Another witness, 23-year-old Yash Patel (unrelated to the deceased family), was traveling with the Patels and other migrants. He testified that they were dropped off in the middle of the blizzard in Manitoba and had to walk until they spotted another car. Yash Patel described how he became separated from the group and felt desperate for help. “I was very scared,” he said. “I wanted to have help from somebody, but there was no one who could come and help me.”
