Activists in the case argued they were working with the group No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, an official ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, and thus were acting on their religious beliefs to save immigrant lives.

The Nina Maria day care center is one of many projects run by the Diocese of Cucuta to help Venezuelan migrants, who are leaving their country to escape poverty, violence and an increasingly authoritarian government.

Venezuelan migrants and refugees have ended up mostly in nearby countries like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where governments have struggled to provide them with basic services.

Of the 7,000 asylum cases that have been completed in the El Paso sector since the policy was implemented, only 15 individuals received asylum—a denial rate of more than 99 percent.

Catholic Charities USA condemned the decision, calling it “harsh and unnecessary.”

In June 2018, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the government to stop separating families and reunite parents and children.