Indians' death in brutal cold: US man held for transporting 2 Indians freed from jail without bond

New York

New York: A Florida man, charged with human smuggling, hasbeen released from prison conditionally and without paying a bond, days afterhe was found illegally transporting two Indians in America and four otherIndian nationals were found frozen to death in Canada near the US border.

Steve Shand, 47, was arrested last week and charged with one count of havingtransported and moved or having attempted to transport aliens who entered, orremained in the United States in violation of law.

Shand, who made his first appearance on January 20 before US District CourtMagistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer of Minnesota, was ordered to remain in custodypending a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for January 24.

A report in the Grand Forks Herald newspaper in the US state of North Dakota,said that Shand, who participated in the hearing virtually, was granted aconditional release pending trial at the pretrial and detention hearing.

The report said that he will remain in detention until he is sent back toFlorida.

Throughout the 30-minute hearing, Shand made no significant statements, onlyreplying yes ma'am or yes your honour as Bowbeer listed the conditions of hisrelease, the report said.

The fact that you are living in Florida is not an excuse to not appear at anyhearing, Bowbeer told Shand, who replied Yes ma'am.

The report said that Shand was released on the so-called appearance bond,solemn written oath to appear before the court whenever hearings are held orwhen his trial begins.

He will also need to report to prison if found guilty in the case, the reportsaid.

"Under the conditions of release, Shand must surrender his passport or anysimilar travel document or visa. He must have no contact with anyone who may beconsidered a witness or victim in his human smuggling case.

He will be supervised by a probation and pretrial supervisor in Florida, and hewas ordered not to travel far from his home, though he is allowed to travel toMinnesota, should he be required to appear in person. Later hearings may takeplace either online or in person, it said.

The appearance bond also forbids Shand from violating other state or federallaws and Bowbeer warned that Shand would have to deal with the snowballing setof consequences, all of them bad if he did so, the report said.

Shand was transporting two undocumented Indian nationals in his van when he wasapprehended less than one mile south of the US/Canadian border in a rural areabetween the official ports of entry located at Lancaster, Minnesota andPembina, North Dakota.

While Shand and the two passengers were being transported to the Pembina BorderPatrol Station in North Dakota, law enforcement encountered five additionalIndians approximately a quarter mile south of the Canadian border walking inthe direction of where Shand was arrested.

They appeared to be headed to an unstaffed gas plant located in St Vincent,Minnesota.

The five Indians told authorities that they had walked across the borderexpecting to be picked up by someone.

The group said that they had been walking around for over 11 hours. One of thegroup members was carrying a backpack that did not belong to him.

He told authorities that he was carrying the backpack for a family of fourIndian nationals that had earlier walked with his group but had becomeseparated during the night.

The backpack contained children's clothes, a diaper, toys and some children'smedication.

According to court documents, later during the day on January 19, 2022, USBorder Patrol authorities received a report from the Royal Canadian MountedPolice that four bodies were found frozen just inside the Canadian side of theinternational border.

The dead bodies were identified as the family of four Indian nationals that wasseparated.

The report quoted Border Patrol agent David Marcus as saying that the Indiannationals, arrested for being illegally in the country, have been processedaccording to the Immigration and Nationality Act and may soon face removalproceedings.