Federal prosecutors plan to argue at a Minnesota trial that two men were part of a criminal network stretching from India to Canada that smuggled families seeking better lives in the United States

It was a packed house at the courthouse full of people waiting for the jury selection. The case, for two men accused of being part of a criminal network that stretched around the world. Federal prosecutors say Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand were part of an operation that scouted clients in India arranging visas,

But the next month, a family of four migrants — including two children — froze to death on the border after failing to reach Shand’s van amid a subzero blizzard. Authorities

Nearly three years after an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada during an ill-fated attempt to enter the US, two men are facing trial, accused of trying to help smuggle them across the border.