Men face prison for human smuggling after an Indian family of 4 died on the US-Canada border
May 27, 2025
Two men face sentencing in Minnesota on human smuggling charges more than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to cross into the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard. Federal prosecutors have recommended nearly 20 years for the alleged ringleader, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, at his sentencing Wednesday. And they’re seeking nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick them up, Steve Anthony Shand. They’ll be sentenced at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where they were tried and convicted on four counts apiece in November.