The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that illegal immigrants who re-enter the country after being deported are not entitled to bond hearings. The Court split between more conservative versus more liberal justices 6-3 upholding the federal statute.

Fox News reports:

A 6-3 decision split between the court’s conservative and liberal justices held that a federal statute requiring detention for non-residents who have already received an administratively final removal order applied, even though the illegal immigrants were seeking withholding hearings to keep them from being sent back to their countries of origin. The court ruled that because they were now facing removal based on the reinstatement of the previous final order, they were not entitled to a hearing to argue for release.

“[T]he finality of the order of removal does not depend in any way on the outcome of the withholding-only proceedings,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s opinion, reversing a ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The immigrants claimed that because they sought withholding hearings, the law governing final orders does not apply to their situation. Instead, they argued that the law that applies “pending a decision on whether the alien is to be removed from the United States” is relevant.

Alito made it clear that this was incorrect, because no question remains as to whether they would be removed from the U.S.

Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the dissenting opinion noting that withholding proceedings can often take upwards of the six months that courts define as a reasonable waiting period.