Court rejects appeal in Manitoba-U.S. smuggling case where family froze to death

A United States court of appeals has upheld the verdict for Harshkumar Patel, who was convicted in a human smuggling operation along the Canada-U.S. border. Harshkumar Patel, one of two men convicted in a human smuggling trial last fall, enters the courthouse in Fergus Falls, Minnesota for sentencing on Wednesday May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert

A United States court has upheld the verdict for one of two men convicted in a human smuggling operation along the Canada-U.S. border.

The appeal court, in its decision, said it found no valid reason to change the verdict and sentence for Harshkumar Patel.

Patel was sentenced to just over 10 years in prison after a Minnesota jury found him guilty in 2024 of being part of trans-national smuggling ring.

The ring brought people from India to Canada on student visas and would then smuggle them over the border in the U.S.

On one trip in 2022, a couple and their two children froze to death while walking overnight in a blizzard from southern Manitoba into Minnesota.

The trial heard Patel helped organize the trip.

His co-accused, Steve Shand, worked as a driver and picked up migrants once they crossed into the United States.

Shand was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

The frozen bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found metres from the border in January 2022.

The family was not related to Harshkumar Patel.

The temperature was -23 C and the wind chill had dipped below -35. There were no buildings or trees to provide shelter. The trial was told smugglers on the Canadian side of the border had given the family and several other migrants jeans, thin jackets, and hats and mitts designed for warmer weather.

One who made it across the border suffered severe hypothermia and was flown to Minneapolis for treatment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2026.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press