An Indian-origin man, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, has been sentenced to ten years and one month in prison for masterminding a human smuggling operation that led to the death of an Indian family trying to enter the US from Canada.

A Minnesota federal judge also sentenced his accomplice, Steve Anthony Shand, 50, to six years and six months. The victims — Jagdish Patel, his wife Vaishaliben, and their two children — froze to death on January 19, 2022, amid minus 35-degree temperatures near the Manitoba-Minnesota border.

The jury found both men guilty last November. Prosecutors said Patel exploited migrants from Gujarat, helping them obtain Canadian visas and then cross illegally into the US. Seven others survived the dangerous journey and were later rescued by US authorities.

Judge John Tunheim called the smugglers’ actions “callous” for abandoning the victims. The case has drawn attention to illegal crossings at the northern US border.