Two men accused of smuggling people across the U.S.-Canada border into Minnesota have pleaded not guilty.
The people they allegedly smuggled included four members of an Indian family from Gujarat who froze to death during a blizzard in 2022.
Harshkumar Patel, 28, alias “Dirty Harry,” entered his plea Monday to seven counts of human smuggling during a brief teleconference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois of Duluth.
Authorities allege that Patel hired Steven Shand, 49, of Deltona, Florida, to illegally transport the unauthorized immigrants over the Canadian border to the Chicago area. Shand pleaded not guilty during the same hearing.
Shand was arrested and charged with human smuggling two years ago but remains free on bail. His case was put on hold several times before Patel’s arrest last month. Patel is in federal custody.
Defense attorney Thomas Leinenweber did not immediately respond Wednesday to an Associated Press request for comment.
According to a recent court document and the U.S. Homeland Security Department, Patel had previously been refused a U.S. visa at least five times and is currently illegally in the U.S. His name did not come up in connection with the smuggling until he was arrested in Chicago last month on a previously sealed warrant from last September.
The unsealed documents revealed that Patel is linked with a human trafficking group in the northwest Indian state of Gujarat. Authorities alleged the group would get Indian nationals into Canada with student visas before smuggling them to the Chicago area.
Prosecutors allege Shand was driving a rented 15-passenger van that was stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol in Minnesota near the Canadian border on January 19, 2022.
Inside were two Gujaratis who had entered the U.S. illegally. Five others were found nearby, having walked for upward of 11 hours in subzero temperatures, they said. One person suffered severe cold-related injuries.
The group claimed to have been separated from the family of four, whose bodies were later found just meters from the border in Manitoba.
The deceased were identified as Jagdish Patel, 39, Vaishaliben, 34, their daughter Vihangi, 11, and son Dharmik, 3, from Gujarat. The parents, both teachers, had sought a better life in the U.S., relatives said.
Shand admitted transporting the people for Patel and receiving about $25,000 for five trips to the border, dropping passengers at various locations in the Chicago area.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.