Money Over Human Lives: US Court Slams Men Accused of Smuggling Indian Family Who Froze to Death

FERGUS FALLS: Two men put financial profit over human life when y attempted to smuggle a couple from India and ir two young children across U.S.-Cana border in heavy snow and bone-chilling winds, leing to family freezing to death, prosecutors said Monday.

Prosecutors allege Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, ran part of a sprawling human smuggling scheme and recruited Steve Shand, 50, to shuttle migrants across border. Both men have pleed not guilty to four federal counts related to human smuggling. ir trial in Minnesota is expected to last about five days.

Prosecutors say family of four — 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; ir 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik — died on Jan. 19, 2022, after spending hours wandering in blizzard conditions. Shand h been waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including family from Gujarat state, as wind chill reached minus 36 degrees (minus 38 Celsius).

Shand and Patel knew winter wear conditions were extreme, but chose to go forward with a plan to smuggle migrants across border on foot anyway, prosecutor Ryan Lipes said in his opening statement.

" migrants were dropped at a dark isolated part of Canian border nowhere near a legal port of entry,” Lipes said.

When Jagdish Patel's body was found, he was holding Dharmik, who was wrapped in a blanket, prosecutors ded.

“This case is about se two men putting profit over people’s lives, profit y earned by smuggling migrants from India across Canian border into U.S,” Lipes told jury.

Attorney Thomas Leinenweber said his client, Harshkumar Patel, should never have been charged. Leinenweber said in his opening statement that no one would testify that Patel ever talked about a smuggling conspiracy or provide visual evidence of his involvement.

“re are certain universal feelings that we all have," Leinenweber said. "One of worst feeling universally that anyone could feel is when you are wrongfully accused.”

Leinenweber also told Associated Press that his client came to America to escape poverty and build a better life for himself before being unjustly accused of crimes he didn't commit.

Shand's attorney, Lisa Lopez, asked jury to differentiate between two defendants. She said Shand was an unwitting participant in smuggling ring.

“Mr. Shand was used by Mr. Patel. And being used does not equate under law to being guilty of conspiracy,” Lopez said.

Lopez said Shand and migrants were duped by Patel and smuggling network.

A jury of eight men and six women, including two alternates, was seated Monday afternoon. Before jury selection began in morning, defense attorneys objected to prosecutors’ plan to show seven photos of frozen bodies of Jagdish Patel and his family, including close-up images of children.

Anor attorney for Shand, Aaron Morrison, said heart-wrenching images could cause “extreme prejudice to jury” and asked for m to be removed as evidence. Prosecutors argued photos were necessary to show Shand and Harshkumar Patel did not prepare family for frigid conditions.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim allowed images to remain as evidence.

Patel is a common Indian surname and victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel. Federal prosecutors say Harshkumar Patel and Shand were part of an international criminal network that scouted for clients in India, got m Canian student visas, arranged transportation and smuggled m into U.S., mostly through Washington state or Minnesota.

U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on Canian border in year ending this Sept. 30. By 2022, Pew Research Center estimates more than 725,000 Indians were living illegally in U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvorans.

Prosecutors filed court documents showing Patel was in U.S. illegally after being refused a visa at least five times, and that he recruited Shand at a casino near ir homes in Deltona, Florida, just north of Orlando.

Over five weeks, court documents show, Patel and Shand often communicated about bitter cold as y smuggled five groups of Indians over a quiet stretch of border. One night in December 2021, Shand messaged Patel that it was “cold as hell” while waiting to pick up one group, documents say.

“y going to be alive when y get here?” he allegedly wrote.

During last trip in January, Shand h messaged Patel, saying: “Make sure everyone is dressed for blizzard conditions, please,” according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for five trips.

Jagdish Patel grew up in Dingucha. He and his family lived with his parents, who were schoolteachers, according to local news reports.