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.

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. It was a backpack with child’s clothing and toys that first worried US Border Patrol agents.

Two men are accused of helping illegally smuggle Indian nationals across the U.S.-Canada border and into Minnesota, including four members of an Indian family who froze to death in 2022.

Experts say illegal immigration from India is driven by everything from political repression to a dysfunctional American immigration system that can take years, if not decades, to navigate legally

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