The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against the government on Monday over its mandatory detention provision which prevents certain noncitizens from requesting release on bond during their immigration proceedings.

The ruling could enable over 100 Massachusetts detainees per year to argue for their freedom, according to the ACLU Massachusetts, which filed the class action lawsuit Gordon v. Holder in August 2013 .

"[The] Court rejected a policy that undermines both our constitutional value and common sense,' said Eunice Lee, attorney at the Immigrants' Rights Project of the National ACLU.

The court upheld lower court rulings that challengers were entitled to a bail hearing.

Federal Circuit Judge Timothy Dyk said in the ruling for the appeals panel, "In the government's view, 1226 (c) subjects an alien to detention without bail at any time after release, including years later, and detention can continue years after release while the alien fights removal. We think the government's view of 1226 (c) is incorrect."

A named plaintiff in the lawsuit, Clayton Gordon, was detained by immigration officials in June 2013.  Gordon came to the U.S. at the age of six, had been a lawful permanent resident for more than 30 years, and served in the U.S. Army. In June 2013 he was detained by immigration authorities and held without the possibility of bond because of a 2008 drug offense, even though he spent less than a day in jail for that offense, and had completed his probationary term. After that incident he married, had a son, brought a home, and was running his own contracting business. As he drove to work on June 20 he was surround by armed immigration agents, seized and place in mandatory detention, according to the ACLU.

A district court ruling in May said Gordon was entitled to an individual bond hearing and to be reunited with his family while he awaits the outcome of his pending immigration case.

The government appealed the district court decision; the First Circuit ruled against that appeal on Monday.

Dyk said, "Despite its year-long delay in bringing removal proceedings after the petitioners' release from criminal custody, the government has offered no explanation for either the delay or the eventual decision to prosecute in these individual cases or, for that matter, in the other cases where individuals have been detained years after release."

"President Obama has deported more people, now 400,000 a year, than any other president in history. He is not just talking about it. But you know priorities are important. You can deport 400,000 people by concentrating on the criminals while leaving others along where deportations are only going to create havoc and hardships there. Don't deport people who have been living here 15 years and just came here to get a job and are hard working," immigration attorney Carl Shusterman told Forbes Magazine.