“Today might be a victory for No More Deaths, but people continue to die and disappear every day in the desert,” Hollarsmith said in the news release. “Our hearts remain with the families of the disappeared. As long as border policy funnels migrants into the most remote corridors of the desert, the need for a humanitarian response will continue.”

Lawyers for Deighan and her co-defendants had asked the court to dismiss the charges because the volunteers were acting out of necessity in a life-or-death situation.

A woman in Phoenix called a No More Deaths hotline and said two of her cousins and a friend were lost near Growler Valley, an area of the wildlife refuge where many remains of migrants have been found, according to court records.

The volunteers called the Border Patrol, but agents didn’t respond for hours, their lawyers said. The volunteers went to the wildlife refuge to find the border-crossers and the Border Patrol later sent a helicopter. One of the lost men was never found.

Last month, Natalie Hoffman was convicted of operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area. Hoffman and Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco McCormick were convicted of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit and abandoning property there.