 "Gujarat's their children Dharmik and Vihangi froze to their deaths while crossing into the United States from Canada in 2022. (Photo: Reuters)")
In the case of an Indian family freezing to death while illegally entering the United States in 2022, a US court has sentenced the leader of the human smuggling network for 10 years. His associate has been jailed for six years.
In 2022, a family of four from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar froze to death while illegally crossing into the United States from Canada. The deceased were identified as Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishali, 37, and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharmik, 3.
The leader of the human smuggling network has been identified as 29-year-old Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel. He is an Indian national who lives in the US state of Florida. He has been sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison. His associate, Steve Anthony Shand, 50, has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison and additional two years of supervised release. He is a US citizen who lives in Florida.
The court ruled that Harshkumar will be deported to India after the completion of his sentence.
Prosecutors had charged Harshkumar and Anthony with organising illegal crossing of dozens of Indians into the United States from Canada. They said the smuggling network brought people to Canada on fake student visas and then smuggled them into the United States via land. They said the smugglers charged $100,000 for bringing people from India to the United States.
In the case of the Indian family that froze to death, Harshkumar had arranged for the crossing of 11 people into the United States from Canada. They started from Canada’s Emerson town with instructions of how to enter the United States. On the US side, they were supposed to meet a designated person who would have taken them further inland. However, the Indian family is believed to have been separated from the rest of the group in the blizzard and frozen to death.