An Indian national and his accomplice were nailed by the Department of Justice “for their roles in an international human smuggling conspiracy.”
The two men were sentenced in the District of Minnesota, according to a DOJ release.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel will face 10 years and one month in prison for his role in the conspiracy.
Patel, a 29-year-old Indian national formerly of Florida, will be removed from the United States upon the completion of his sentence.
Steve Anthony Shand, Patel’s accomplice, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for his role.
Shand, a 50-year-old, is from Florida.
The DOJ provided some intimate details on what exactly Patel and Shand are accused of — as well as how lucrative it all was.
“According to evidence presented at trial, Patel and Shand were part of a large-scale human-smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on fraudulent student visas and then smuggled them into the United States across the northern border,” the DOJ stated. “Patel organized the logistics of smuggling aliens from Manitoba, Canada, into the United States, with other co-conspirators, and Shand picked up the aliens just south of the Canadian border in the United States and drove them to Chicago.
“Both men were paid for their roles in the conspiracy and disregarded the risks posed to the aliens by the cold weather at the northern border.
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“According to evidence at trial, the going rate to be smuggled from India through Canada into the United States was $100,000.”
Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, stressed the gravity of what the two men were convicted of, and how this current administration is intent on cracking down.
“Patel and Shand endangered thousands of lives for their personal enrichment and are responsible for the deaths of two small children who froze to death on their watch,” Galeotti said. “This case demonstrates the grave danger associated with human smuggling operations.
“I thank the prosecutors and our law enforcement partners in the U.S. and in Canada who are working to secure the northern border and end the perilous smuggling of aliens into the United States,” he added.
“Every time I think about this case I think about this family — including two beautiful little children — who the defendants left to freeze to death in a blizzard,” acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick for the District of Minnesota said in the DOJ release as well.
She added: “As we’ve seen time and time again, human traffickers care nothing for humanity.
“I am proud of the work of our law enforcement partners in holding these defendants accountable for their unspeakable crimes.”
One particularly harrowing case from January 2022 involved Patel and Shand organizing a smuggling run in horrifically cold and dangerous conditions.
That expedition indeed saw a family of four freeze to death, including two children, aged 11 and 3.
President Donald Trump and his DOJ, spearheaded by Pam Bondi, have made it a point to crack down on immigration-related crimes.
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