Bodies found frozen at U.S. border highlight lengths of human smuggling efforts, desperation of those crossing

The question is a complex one.

As temperatures hovered around -35 with the wind chill, why did four people — two adults, a teenager and a baby, believed to be members of the same family from India — end up in the Manitoba field near the Canada-U.S. border where they froze to death this week?

For Minnesota immigration lawyer Ayodele Ojo, what he's seen in his work makes one thing clear.

"People do crazy things for hope. What drives them is hope," he said. "Because they believe they will make it. They have been told it is possible."

In this case, the people found dead may have been victims of a wider human smuggling operation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent John Stanley said in an affidavit.

Before the four bodies were found near the town of Emerson, U.S. Border Patrol officers had stopped a 15-passenger van just south of the international border.

Inside were two undocumented Indian nationals, who were detained. Five others were also arrested nearby around the same time. It's believed those seven and the four who died in Manitoba were all part of the same group, but had become separated.

The driver of the van, 47-year-old Steve Shand of Florida, was charged with human smuggling. Shand is also suspected of being part of three other recent smuggling incidents at the same location where he was arrested, the affidavit said.

A few years ago, irregular border crossings were common in Manitoba, as asylum seekers fled the U.S. for Canada amid fears of widespread deportations shortly after Donald Trump became president.

Those incidents appear to have declined in recent years, Manitoba RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said this week.

But Homeland Security special agent Tonya Price said it's still too soon to say if this recent string of smuggling incidents is part of a growing trend in the opposite direction.

"It's not nearly as prevalent as it is on the southern border, but we certainly are seeing it here on the northern border and this is an example and certainly an unfortunate one at that," Price said. 

She said law enforcement recognizes the issue and is trying to stamp it out by stopping known smuggling routes from being used. But she couldn't reveal any updates on their investigation, including the status of the seven alleged border crossers who were detained on Wednesday.

In general, she said the people who risk a dangerous journey for a better life are desperate.