Four women were reportedly sentenced to 15 months probation and fined $250 each for illegally entering a national wildlife refuge along the southern border and leaving food and water for migrants.

A federal judge handed down the sentences on Friday, according to ABC News, which noted that the women will be able to serve unsupervised probation.

The women, Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick, had been convicted in January of operating a vehicle in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona without a permit, the Arizona Republic noted.

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They also were convicted of going into a wildlife refuge and abandoning property, including gallons of water and cans of beans, the newspaper reported, adding that the convictions stemmed from an encounter between the women and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer in 2017.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco said in his ruling in January that the women did not “get an access permit, they did not remain on the designated roads, and they left water, food, and crates in the Refuge."

"All of this, in addition to violating the law, erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature," he said.

According to ABC News, Huse said in a statement that the "border crisis in this country" is a "matter of life and death."

"History will not favor those on the wrong side of it," she added. "Our border policy continues to push people into remote and dangerous parts of the desert."

All of the defendants volunteer for the organization No More Deaths, whose mission is to save the lives of migrants making the journey across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The organization emphasized its commitment to its cause after the sentencing in a statement.

"We may have been found guilty but the real crime is the government’s deliberate policy to use 'death as a deterrent' at the US/Mexico border," the group said. "The criminalization of those acting in solidarity is a classic example of the ramping up of an authoritarian regime."