Human smugglers convicted after Indian family freezes to death trying to illegally cross northern border [Video]

A pair of human smugglers were convicted this week in Minnesota, following the deaths of an Indian family, including two children, who froze during a blizzard in 2022 while attempting to illegally cross into the U.S. from Canada.

The jury in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, found Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, and Steve Shand, 50, guilty on four counts, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally.

Patel is an Indian national and Shand is a U.S. citizen from Florida. 

“This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said in a statement. “To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border.”

ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACTIVIST …