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Crime, Law and Justice
Mathew Holding Eagle III
Fergus Falls, Minn.

Jury selection begins in Fergus Falls for two men charged with human smuggling that resulted in deaths 

The Patel Family
The Patel family in a photo from 2019. US authorities have charged two men for allegedly trying to smuggle the family and others into the U.S. over the border from Canada. The Patels froze to death during the attempt in 2022.
Courtesy of CBC

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Jury selection begins in federal court Monday for two men accused of human smuggling. The charges stem from the January 2022 deaths of the Patel family from India.

Jagdish, 39, Vaishaliben, 34, Vihangi, 11, and Dharmik, 3, died while attempting to cross into the U.S on foot during a snowstorm. Their bodies were later found by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a field near Emerson, Manitoba, just yards from the international border. 

Steve Shand, 49, and Harshkumar Patel (no relation to the family), 28, will stand trial for their involvement in an illegal operation based in the Indian state of Gujarat. U.S. authorities said it used fake student visas to smuggle migrants from India into British Columbia and then into the United States. Once in the U.S., they would be transported by vehicle to Chicago to work in a restaurant chain. 

Gujarat police told U.S. authorities that they suspected the restaurant owner facilitated the smuggling to find people “to work in his restaurants for substandard wages.” 

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Shand, of Deltona, Fla., after allegedly finding him a mile south of the border driving two undocumented people from India in a 15-passenger van. Authorities found five others walking nearby. All were from Gujarat. 

Shand allegedly told federal investigators that Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national who was in the U.S. illegally and had been living in Florida, recruited him to pick up people from India who crossed the border into Minnesota and drive them to Chicago. 

According to an earlier criminal complaint filed against Harshkumar Patel, Shand “described five total trips he had made to the international border in Minnesota in December 2021 and January 2022 to transport Indian nationals.” 

For one trip, Harshkumar Patel allegedly paid Shand $3,500 in cash up front and an additional $8,000 after delivering people to Chicago. 

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial is expected to last five days.  

MPR News correspondent Matt Sepic contributed to this story.