Indian family froze to death crossing Canada-US border

In Fagdish Patel’s frozen arms was the body of his 3-year-old son, Dharmik, wrapped in a blanket

On the last night of their lives, Jagdish Patel, his wife and their two young children tried to slip into the US across a near-empty stretch of the Canadian border.

Wind chills reached minus 36 Fahrenheit (minus 38 Celsius) that night in January 2022 as the family from India set out on foot to meet a waiting van. They walked amid vast farm fields and bulky snowdrifts, navigating in the black of an almost-moonless night.

The driver, waiting in northern Minnesota, messaged his boss: "Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please."

Coordinating things in Canada, federal prosecutors say, was Harshkumar Patel, an experienced smuggler nicknamed "Dirty Harry." On the US side was Steve Shand, the driver recently recruited by Patel at a casino near their Florida homes, prosecutors say.