In what appears to be the first decision to address mandatory detention under the Laken Riley Act, a federal judge in Boston ruled today that detaining an individual solely on the basis of his prior arrest violates due process. Signed into law in January, the LRA purports to authorize immigration officers to jail people without any review over their detention and based solely on unproven accusations.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that jailing an 18-year-old without a bond hearing under the LRA violates his right to due process and ordered him to be released if a bond hearing is not provided by September 10.

The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the law firm Rubin Pomerleau PC, and Professor Mary Holper of Boston College Law School.

“It is unthinkable to imprison someone in the United States without due process based solely on unproven accusations,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “Our client is an 18-year-old with no criminal record. He has a special form of immigration status designed to protect young people who are the victims of abuse, abandonment, and neglect. Yet ICE locked him up in civil immigration detention for two months without any possibility of release, solely due to a shoplifting arrest that has not resulted in any charges. The court ruled this violates the law and must cease. Under our Constitution, a person cannot be deprived of their liberty based on unproven accusations.”