Prosecutors seek prison for men guilty of human smuggling in Manitoba border deaths

The Edward J. Devitt U.S. Courthouse and Federal building is seen Nov. 18, 2024, where two men on trial face human smuggling charges in Fergus Falls, Minn. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

FERGUS FALLS — U.S. attorneys have filed sentencing submissions for two men convicted after a family froze to death while trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba.

A Minnesota jury found Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago, guilty last year of human-smuggling charges.

The parents and two children from India were found in the snow metres from the U.S. border in January 2022.

In court documents filed Wednesday, the U.S. attorneys requested Patel be sentenced to a little more than 19 years in prison.

"Mr. Patel has never shown an ounce of remorse," Lisa Kirkpatrick and Michael McBride say in the documents.

"Even today, he continues to deny he is the (person) that worked with Mr. Shand on this smuggling venture — despite substantial evidence to the contrary and counsel for his co-defendant identifying him as such at trial."

They also recommend Shand be handed 10 years for conspiring with Patel to smuggle migrants into the United States through brutal winter conditions.

"Five times Mr. Shand sat in the frigid winter conditions, experiencing first-hand how dangerous — and deadly — the cold could be. Yet he kept going back," the document says. "He kept going back because he wanted more money.

"He did not recognize the humanity of the migrants he was endangering; he saw only a payday."

Court heard Shand and Patel were part of an international smuggling ring that brought people from India to Canada on student visas then sent them on foot across the border to the U.S.

Shand was arrested while driving a van on a remote road just south of the border, when the temperature was below -20 C and strong winds made it feel even colder. There were two migrants in the van and several others on foot nearby.

Hours later, 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 in a field. They were not related to the accused.

A U.S. district judge earlier rejected requests for new trials for the two accused, ruling there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find them guilty on all four counts.

Shand's lawyer, Aaron Morrison, says in a separate court filing that the government's proposed sentence is "unduly punitive" and he's requesting a little more than two years in prison.

Morrison said his client had little say in the overall smuggling operation, calling him a "good man" who needed money to support his family.

"He is not a heartless lifelong criminal. He is a man who made a bad decision based on a deep-rooted belief that to fail in supporting his family is to fail as a man," he said.

Harshkumar Patel's lawyer, Thomas Leinenweber, did not provide a document outlining a recommendation for his client.

The men are set to be sentenced May 28.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.

— By Aaron Sousa in Edmonton

The Canadian Press