Survivor of icy cross-border walk to testify at human smuggling trial

The trial of two men accused of human smuggling is expected to soon hear from a migrant who survived a long walk across the Canada-U. S. border in a blizzard.

Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel are charged with organizing several illegal crossings, from Manitoba to Minnesota, of people from India.

They have pleaded not guilty and their trial is set to run until Friday.

One of the crossings they are accused of organizing saw a family of four freeze to death as they struggled to walk in blowing snow and wind chills below -30 in January 2022.

Border officials caught seven others that day, one of whom is scheduled to take the witness stand as early as today.

Border officials have testified that they saw boot prints in the same area in the weeks preceding that day — a sign that previous migrant crossings had been successful.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.