Jury deliberations begin in trial of human smuggling, frozen migrant family

By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press on November 22, 2024.

Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, are shown in a handout photo. A jury has started deliberating in the trial of two men accused of human smuggling at the border between Manitoba and Minnesota. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Amritbhai Vakil **MANDATORY CREDIT**

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. – Jurors have begun deliberations in the trial of two men accused of human smuggling across the Canada-U.S. border between Manitoba and Minnesota.

They are tasked with deciding whether to convict or acquit Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel on four charges.

The prosecution says the two men were part of a smuggling ring that saw Indian nationals brought to Canada then made to walk across the border into the U.S.

During one trip on Jan. 19, 2022, a family of four from India died walking across a remote stretch of the border in a blizzard.

The couple and their two children were found frozen to death in a field in Manitoba.

Shand’s lawyer has said Shand simply picked up people and transported them within the U.S. and was unaware he was doing anything illegal.

Patel’s lawyer argues the prosecution has misidentified Patel and he is not the same man whose text messages about organizing border crossings were caught by law enforcement.