By Two alleged human smugglers go on trial Monday for their role in a tragic border crossing attempt that left an Indian family of four dead in a bitter January 2022 blizzard, highlighting the growing crisis of illegal immigration along the U.S.-Canadian border.
Harshkumar Patel, 29, nicknamed “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, face four counts related to human smuggling in federal court. Prosecutors allege they were part of a sophisticated operation moving Indian nationals into the United States when temperatures plunged to minus 36 Fahrenheit on the fatal night.
The victims — Jagdish Patel, his wife Vaishaliben, their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi, and 3-year-old son Dharmik — were found frozen to death in Manitoba, just inside the Canadian border. Jagdish was discovered with his young son wrapped in a blanket in his arms.
“Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please,” Shand messaged his boss before the attempt, according to court documents. Earlier messages revealed his concerns about the extreme cold: “16 degrees cold as hell… They going to be alive when they get here?”
The Patel family, originally from Dingucha village in India’s Gujarat state, represented a growing wave of Indian migrants attempting illegal border crossings. U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians along the Canadian border in the year ending September 30 — 60% of all arrests on that frontier and ten times the number from two years ago.
Prosecutors say the defendants were part of a network that arranged Canadian student visas and transportation for migrants, charging up to $90,000 per person. Patel allegedly coordinated operations from Canada while Shand, recruited at a Florida casino, drove migrants on the U.S. side for about $25,000 per trip.
“He came to America to escape poverty and build a better life and now stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime,” said Thomas Leinenweber, Patel’s attorney. Shand’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
The deaths underscore the risks migrants take seeking entry to the United States. The Patels, both schoolteachers, lived comfortably in Gujarat but were drawn by stories of prosperity from neighbors who had successfully emigrated.
“There was no urgent need, no desperation,” said Vaibhav Jha, a local reporter who investigated the case. “But there was so much pressure in the village, where people grew up aspiring to the good life.”
The trial begins as illegal immigration from India continues to surge, with the Pew Research Center estimating more than 725,000 Indians living illegally in the United States, behind only Mexicans and Salvadorans.
