It happens more often than people realize: human smuggling across borders. People who want a chance at a better life in another country, but cannot afford to become citizens legally, pay hefty amounts of money to smugglers to be transported to specific countries in order to end a life of poverty, or even escape the confines of war.
The smuggling of migrants into other countries is not only illegal, it’s dangerous for individuals who entrust their lives to those who claim they can get them safely over the border, without realizing what conditions they will have to endure while they’re stowed away on varying vehicles or vessels, or for that matter, if they will even survive.
In late 2021, a family from India arranged to be smuggled from their home country to the Canada-U.S. Border, in the dead of winter. In January 2022, after traveling from India, Jagdish Patel, his wife, and their two young children were left in a field in Canada near the U.S. border during a heavy blizzard with a group of other Indian nationals.
As the family attempted to travel by foot to the van awaiting their arrival at the U.S. border, they were separated from the group due to blinding snow drifts, only to circle endlessly in fields blanketed in white and ice. Sadly, gusting snow and freezing temperatures took a toll on them.
The Patel family never made it to their final destination in hopes of a new and better life in the United States. They froze to death en route: the two men, a young Indian national and a 50-year-old Florida man who coordinated the illegal act that aided in the tragic deaths of the Patel family, were arrested shortly thereafter, and today, Monday, November 18th, they face the court in a trial that will reveal their inhumane act of human smuggling.
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Vicinity of where the Patel family were found on that tragic day
The Patel family were from Dingucha, a quiet village in the western Indian state of Gujarat. According to news reports, the village promotes the “dream of a better life overseas” by advertising through posters pasted throughout the small community.
“Make your dream of going abroad come true,” one poster says, listing three tantalizing destinations: “Canada. Australia. USA.”
That “dream” was enough for a group of 11 Indian nationals, which included the Patel family, to pay Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, the lead smuggler, handsomely for Canadian school visas in order to travel to, and arrive in Canada legally, then be smuggled into the United States illegally as migrants. In the end, the Patel family’s dream was tragically distinguished.
Satveer Chaudhary is a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney who has helped migrants exploited by motel owners. “Smugglers and shady business interests promised many migrants an American dream that doesn’t exist when they arrive. The promises of the almighty dollar lead many people to take unwarranted risks with their own dignity, and as we’re finding out here, their own lives,” Chaudary said.
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The remaining migrants of the 11 that were located by Canadian authorities in the attempted smuggling
As the Patel family wandered aimless in heavy snow drifts and minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures, the ‘smuggling’ driver, Steve Shand, from Deltona, Florida, awaited the arrival of a group of Indian immigrants at the U.S. Border in northern Minnesota. Firing off text messages to the then 29-year-old, lead coordinator of the smuggling operation, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel (no relation to the Patel family), as he waited, Shand stated, “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please,” as indicated by the prosecution team.
Jagdish Patel, 39, died along with his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s, and with their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, and their 3-year-old son, Dharmik. When their bodies were found by Canadian authorities on January 19, 2022, just 10 meters from the Emerson, Manitoba border, the Patel family were said to be wearing winter clothing. However, in such extreme weather conditions with below-freezing temperatures, wind lashing snow, and ice, while walking for hours and hours, the winter attire was not enough to keep them warm or safe: their bodies succumbed to the brutal winter storm and frigid weather.
It was reported that Jagdish Patel’s body was found near his wife’s body, while his 3-year-old son, Dharmik’s body was wrapped in a blanket, held tightly in his father’s frozen arms. Their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, was found further away, separated from her family in the blizzard conditions. Their footprints in the heavy snowfall are what Canadian authorities used to locate them.
“What I am about to share is going to be difficult for many people to hear,” Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters in January 2022, as they announced the news of the deaths. “It is an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy.”
It’s been three years since that tragic night when the Patel family succumbed to hypothermia from freezing weather conditions while trying to make their way to the United States border. Today, the two men charged with smuggling Indian families across Canadian-U.S. borders face conviction in a court of law.
Hemant Shah, an Indian-born businessman living in Winnipeg, north of where the migrants were found, helped organize a virtual prayer service for the Patels after their bodies were found. “Greed,” he said, “has taken four lives: There was no humanity.”