Trial date set for 2 men charged in deaths of migrant family on Manitoba-U.S. border

A trial date is set for two men accused of helping smuggle people across the U.S.-Canada border, including four members of an Indian family who froze to death in January 2022 in Manitoba.

The bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife, Vaishali, 37, their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, and three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found in a snow-drifted field just 12 metres from the U.S. border.

They died of exposure after trying to cross the border during a blinding blizzard on a morning when the temperature was –23 C but with a wind chill that ranged between –35 and –38.

Harshkumar Patel (no relation) and Steve Shand were indicted earlier this year by U.S. federal prosecutors. Patel was arrested in February 2024 and Shand was arrested in January 2022.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to several counts of human smuggling.

Patel, who prosecutors say had a number of aliases, including Dirty Harry, is alleged to have recruited and paid Shand to meet and transport the migrants once they crossed the border into the U.S. Patel and Shand knew each other and lived in Florida.

The jury trial will start Nov. 18 at the federal courthouse in Fergus Falls, Minn., about 80 kilometres southeast of Fargo, N.D., says the U.S. government's trial briefing, filed this week by U.S. attorney Andrew Luger.

The trial, including jury selection, will take approximately five days, says the 26-page document, which includes a briefing of the prosecution's case.

It also includes photos showing how poorly the migrants were prepared for the cold and selections of text messages and phone logs from the defendants' phones, which showed their awareness of the dangers of the cold and a forecast blizzard, prosecutors say.

"The defendants communicated frequently about the risk of smuggling people through the deep cold of the northern border. But they persisted in their conspiracy nevertheless," the trial briefing states.

Between Dec. 12, 2021, and Jan. 19, 2022 — the day the Patel family was found dead — the defendants smuggled dozens of individuals across the Canada-U.S. border as part of a large, systematic human smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them into the U.S., the court documents say.

Shand and Patel — in co-ordination with co-conspirators in Canada — managed the Manitoba to Minnesota crossings, prosecutors allege.

Patel co-ordinated with smugglers in Canada to determine locations, dates and numbers of migrants, the documents say.

To date, no one in Canada is facing charges. An RCMP spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

Patel hired Shand, who followed the same pattern for each smuggling operation, prosecutors allege: Flying to Minneapolis, renting a large passenger van and driving to near the North Dakota-Manitoba border to pick up the migrants on the U.S. side.

During the first smuggling operation in December 2021, the two men recognized the dangers of the cold, with Shand messaging Patel, "they going to be alive when they get here?"

During one operation, a week before the fatal one, "something went wrong on the Canadian side" and they needed a new driver, the court documents say.

Shand's wife, who typically managed his money and arranged other reservations, was recruited and flew to Winnipeg, prosecutors say. She rented a large SUV, made the 445 km round trip to the border and back, then flew back to Orlando in 24 hours.

At one point, she sent Shand a photo of deep snow outside the door of her SUV, the documents say.

Shand's wife, who is not named in the documents, is not alleged to have taken part in the operation on the morning of Jan. 19, 2022. That day, when Shand drove to the pickup location on the U.S. side, he sent videos of the stormy conditions to Patel, the court documents say.

"Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard," Shand texted Patel. "We not losing any money."

At that time, 11 Indian nationals were trying to walk through the conditions and became separated. Patel told Shand to flash his lights so the migrants could see him better. Two found him, but the van had become stuck in snow, the documents say.

A passerby helped pull the van free just as a border patrol agent arrived.

Agents had previously become aware of illegal crossings after finding boot prints leading to an intersection where tire tracks took over. On one occasion, they also recovered a backpack with a price tag in Indian rupees at the same intersection.

Given the size of the van Shand was driving, agents asked if there were more people still coming, the documents say. He said no just before five more migrants emerged from the fields, one of whom had severe frostbite and was slipping out of consciousness due to hypothermia.

Shand was arrested and again asked if there were more people. Again he said no, the court documents say.

One of the migrants handed over a backpack with children's clothing, toys and diapers. It also had photos of a family of four, the Patels.

On the Canadian side of the border, RCMP found the bodies — Jagdish still holding Dharmik wrapped in a blanket and Vihangi nearby. A little way on, they found Vaishali near a fence. Passports found on the deceased matched the photos in the backpack.

U.S. prosecutors intend to call several witnesses, including law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, and those who investigated the smuggling scheme. As well, various expert witnesses will provide information on weather,  phone records, fingerprints and the cause of death.

The government also says it will call a witness who was part of the larger smuggling conspiracy and sent many of the Jan. 19 migrants to Manitoba to cross into Minnesota after he was unable to get them across the border between British Columbia and Washington state.