Part 3: Immigration Offences and Enforcement Immigration Offences and Penalties Section 44: Power to search container unloaded from ship or aircraft
Overview: This section provides an immigration officer (IO) with additional powers to search containers for concealed irregular migrants attempting to enter the UK illegally, where those containers are no longer on board a ship, or aircraft, and are not on any vehicle on which they were removed from a ship or aircraft.
	Background: There is evidence irregular migrants and people smugglers are taking greater risks when attempting to enter the UK illegally, including hiding in containers (as well as freight vehicles) with the intention of avoiding detection and examination by an IO. This method is also used by human traffickers to move vulnerable people into the UK.
	The Immigration Act 1971 ("the 1971 Act") allows an IO to examine any persons who have arrived in the UK by ship or aircraft for the purposes of determining whether or not any of them is a British citizen, and if not, whether they require permission to be in the UK.
	The 1971 Act also provides an IO with the power to search any ship or aircraft and anything on board it, or any vehicle taken off a ship or aircraft which has been brought to the UK.
	There is currently no provision for an IO to conduct a search of a container no longer on a ship or aircraft or found on any vehicle which has been removed from the ship or aircraft for the purposes of the 1971 Act outlined above.
	This means that if a container has been offloaded (without anything having come to light suggesting the need for a search while still on the ship or aircraft) and the IO then identifies something suspicious or receives information raising suspicion, the IO is not currently able to initiate a search.
	Subsection 1 states that this section will make changes to the 1971 Act, specifically paragraph 1 of Schedule 2, which gives authority to an IO to inspect ships or aircrafts.
	Subsection 2 amends the Schedule to give powers to an IO to specifically inspect containers, as well as ships and vehicles.
	Subsection 3 allows an immigration officer to direct where a container should be delivered for the purpose of carrying out an inspection. The definition of "container" is that of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, a "bundle or package and any baggage, box, cask or other receptacle whatsoever ".
	Subsection 4 creates a general offence under section 26(1) of the 1971 Act for failing without reasonable excuse to comply with a direction from an IO.