Migrants Frozen In The Gendong Of Muara Children Caught In Human Smuggling Into The US Involves 1 Marga India

JAKARTA - The trial of international network human smuggling cases involves two suspects, each of whom is India and the United States (US) will start in Minnnesota next Monday.

The case went up to court after a male migrant with his child who was carried was both frozen to death in the middle of a heavy snowstorm while trying to walk across the US border.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel (29), an Indian citizen, and Steve Shand (50), a Florida citizen, are suspected of being the masterminds of the human smuggling network that killed the two migrants.

Citing AP, their network is thought to have been operating spanning from India to Canada.

In the smuggling operation, the Federal Prosecutor accused Harshkumar Patel of being the main driver. While Shand was the accomplice waiting in the truck continuing to transport 11 migrants, including the two victims who died.

According to prosecutors, Harshkumar Patel recruited Shand at a casino near their residence in Deltona, Florida, just north of Orlando.

Prosecutors added that Harshkumar Patel and Shand were also jointly looking for clients in India, giving them Canadian student visas, regulating transportation, then smuggling their victims into the US, mostly through the state of Washington or Minnesota.

Not only Jagdish Patel (39) and his son Dharmak (3) who died while carrying him, the victim died including his wife Vaishaliben Patel (30 years) and their daughter Vihangi (11).

Patel, who landed on the last name of the perpetrator and the victim of human smuggling, is known to be the Indian clan. However, there is no direct family relationship between the perpetrator and the victim in this case.

Harshkumar Patel's lawyer, Thomas Leinenweber, said his client came to the US to escape poverty and build a better life. He also asked his client to be fairly charged.

To note, US Border Patrols have arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border over the past nearly a year as of September 30.

In 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates that there are more than 725,000 Indians living illegally in the US. India's illegal migrant numbers are adrift of Mexican and El Salvadoran migrants.