Prosecutors seek prison for men guilty of human smuggling in Manitoba border deaths

By Canadian Press on May 15, 2025.

FERGUS FALLS — U.S. attorneys have filed sentencing submissions for two men convicted after a family froze to death while trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba.

A Minnesota jury found Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel guilty of human-smuggling charges after the parents and two children from India were found in the snow in January 2022.

The attorneys say in court documents that Patel is not remorseful and they’re requesting he be sentenced to a little more than 19 years in prison.

They also say Shand should be handed 10 years for conspiring with Patel to smuggle migrants into the United States at least five times through brutal winter conditions.

Shand’s lawyer, Aaron Morrison, says in a document that proposed sentence is “unduly punitive” and he’s requesting a little more than two years in prison.

A defence lawyer did not provide a document outlining a recommendation for Patel.

The men are set to be sentenced May 28.

A U.S. district judge earlier rejected requests for new trials for the men, ruling there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find them guilty on all four counts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.

The Canadian Press