Enforcement Powers Section 15 : Fingerprinting
68.Section 15 amends section 141 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 which allows fingerprints to be taken from specified persons during specified periods. Section 141 applies to any person in respect of whom removal directions have been given and permits fingerprints to be taken between the time the directions are given and the time when the person is removed or deported (or, if a deportation order has been made against him, its revocation or otherwise ceasing to have effect).
69.As the setting of removal directions no longer attracts a right of appeal (by virtue of changes introduced by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002), directions are now set at the end of the enforcement process, shortly before removal is due to take place. This means that there is now only a short period of time within which fingerprints can be taken. Section 15 amends section 141 of the 1999 Act to allow fingerprints to be taken at the beginning of the enforcement process, notwithstanding that removal directions will not be set until the end of that process. In that respect, it restores the pre-2002 Act position.