Explanatory Notes

Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

1999 CHAPTER 33

11 November 1999

Commentary on Sections

Part III: Bail

Section 50: Power of arrest

172.This section grants power to an immigration officer or constable to arrest, without warrant, a person who has been released on bail if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person has broken or is likely to break any condition of bail. Subsection (6) specifies that the person must, if required by a condition of his release to appear before an immigration officer within 24 hours of the arrest, be brought before an immigration officer within that period. Subsection (7) provides that if the person was released on bail by SIAC, he must be brought before that body within 24 hours of arrest. In all other cases, the person arrested must be brought before a justice of the peace or, in Scotland, before an adjudicator or, where this is impracticable, the sheriff, (subsection (8)). The court dealing with the matter may, if of the opinion that the arrested person has broken or is likely to break any condition on which he was released, order the person to be detained, release him on his original bail or release him on new bail. If the court does not agree that the person has broken or is likely to break a condition of bail, it must order release on the original bail. Subsection (5) provides immigration officers and constables with powers to enter premises, where necessary, by reasonable force, for the purposes of searching for a person liable to arrest under the section so long as an authorising warrant has been issued.