Acting U.S. Attorney on human smugglers: “What they cared about was money”

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (KVRR/AP) — The convicted ringleader of an international human smuggling plot and one of his drivers is sentenced in federal court in Fergus Falls.

Harshkumar Patel was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Steve Shand to 6 1/2 years.

The two men were tried and convicted on four counts apiece last November.

Their sentencing comes more than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to enter the U.S. along the Canadian border in a blizzard in Minnesota.

Patel’s attorney told the court before sentencing that Patel maintains his innocence and argued he was no more than a “low man on the totem pole.”

He asked for time served, 18 months.

But acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick said Patel exploited the migrants’ hopes for a better life in America, out of his own greed.

“These defendants knew it was cold, in fact they knew it was life-threateningly cold, they didn’t care. What they cared about was money and their callous indifference to the value of human life cost a family of four their lives,” said Kirkpatrick after the sentencing.

“We hope that this is a strong message, and especially during the inclement months you know, there very well could have been 11 deaths associated with this event,” said Michael Hanson with U.S. Border Patrol Grand Forks Sector.

Hanson says there is ongoing smuggling activity that they are aware of but he says they have not seen an increase or decrease in activity along the border in the Grand Forks sector.