Removal orders

(1) Subject to this Act, and to the terms of any permit granted hereunder, a summary jurisdiction court may, on application made to it by an immigration officer, order any prohibited immigrant to be removed from Belize and to be detained in custody until such removal, provided that no application for an order shall be entertained in the case a Commonwealth citizen, not being a person who entered Belize in contravention of section 24 (1) of this Act or who, on entering Belize, contravened or failed to comply with section 24 (2) or (3) of this Act, unless the application is made– (a) if he entered Belize in accordance with a permit granted under sections 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of this Act, within two years after the expiry of such permit; (b) in any case in which an appeal has been made to a summary jurisdiction court or the Supreme Court, within two years after the determination of the appeal. (2) An immigrant who is ordered to be removed from Belize shall be removed– (a) to the place whence he came, or to any place to which he consents to be removed; (b) if he is a Commonwealth citizen, to a place in some part of the Commonwealth to which he belongs; or (c) if he is not a Commonwealth citizen, to some place in the country to which he belongs. 44 (3) Where an immigrant ordered to be removed is serving a sentence of imprisonment, the Minister may give directions as to whether the whole or what part of the sentence is to be served before removal, and in default of such directions, the immigrant shall be removed after completion of his sentence. (4) An immigrant ordered to be removed may be placed on board a suitable vessel by any police officer or immigration officer, and may be lawfully detained in custody on board so long as the vessel is within the territorial waters of Belize. (5) The expenses of passage of a prohibited immigrant and his dependents (if any) ordered to be removed from Belize shall be payable from the public funds of Belize in so far as they are not defrayed by the immigrant and his dependents or their sureties. (6) No appeal shall lie by or on behalf of an alien against a removal order made by a summary jurisdiction court, provided that the Minister may, on an application made to him by such alien, review the order of the summary jurisdiction court and if satisfied that the applicant is not a prohibited immigrant, rescind the removal order.