2 sentenced for Indian family’s death at US-Canada border

More than three years after an Indian family froze to death while trying to cross into the US, a US court has sentenced an Indian-origin man and his accomplice for human trafficking that resulted in the deaths.

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In January 2022, four members of a family from India were attempting to illegally cross over from Canada to the US when a blizzard hit the area and temperatures dropped to -36°C. The entire family – two adults and their 11-year-old daughter and three-year-old son -- froze to death in the incidents.

Making the details of the case public on Thursday, the US Department of Justice said Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel (29), an Indian national from Florida, was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison for his role in the conspiracy. Patel will be removed from the United States following his sentence.

His co-conspirator, Steve Anthony Shand (50) of Florida, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

The District of Minnesota sentenced them after they were convicted at a jury trial for their roles in an international human trafficking conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of four Indian nationals.

Despite repeated warnings about the approaching blizzard, Patel and Shand organised the smuggling of 11 people from Canada into the US on foot on January 18 and 19, 2022.

US Border Patrol agents found Shand’s van stuck in the snow and arrested Shand, along with two illegal immigrants. Later that day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found the bodies of the family in an isolated area on the Canadian side of the International Border.

The boy was wrapped in a blanket with his father’s frozen glove covering his face. It was proven at the trial that Patel and Shand had been paid to smuggle the family into the United States.

Patel organized the logistics from Manitoba, Canada, into the United States, while other co-conspirators and Shand picked up the people just south of the Canadian border in the US and drove them to Chicago.