# Detention of deportee

> act-s253 — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

253 Detention of deportee
          (1) Where an order for the deportation of a person is in force, an
              officer may, without warrant, detain a person whom the officer
              reasonably supposes to be that person.










          (2) A person detained under subsection (1) or (10) may, subject to this
              section, be kept in immigration detention or in detention as a
              deportee in accordance with subsection (8).
          (3) Where an officer detains a person under subsection (1) or (10), the
              officer shall forthwith inform the person of the reason for the
              detention and shall, if that person so requests, furnish to him or her,
              as soon as practicable, particulars of the deportation order.
          (4) If a person detained under this section (in this subsection called the
              detained person) claims, within 48 hours after the detention and
              while the detained person is detention, that he or she is not the
              person in respect of whom the deportation order is in force, the
              person to whom the claim is made shall:
                (a) if that last-mentioned person is an officer—ask the detained
                    person; or
                (b) in any other case—cause an officer to ask the detained
                    person;
              to make a statutory declaration to that effect, and, if the person
              detained makes such a declaration, the officer who asked him or
              her to make the declaration shall take him or her before a
              prescribed authority within 48 hours after the making of the
              declaration, or, if it is not practicable to take him or her before a
              prescribed authority within that time, as soon as practicable after
              the expiration of that period.
          (5) If a detained person who is required under subsection (4) to be
              brought before a prescribed authority within a particular period, is
              not so brought before a prescribed authority, the person shall be
              released.
          (6) Where a person is brought before a prescribed authority under this
              section, the prescribed authority shall inquire into the question
              whether there are reasonable grounds for supposing that that
              person is a deportee and, if the prescribed authority is satisfied that
              there are such reasonable grounds, the prescribed authority shall,
              by writing under his or her hand, declare accordingly.










          (7) Where a prescribed authority makes a declaration in accordance
              with subsection (6), the detained person may be held in detention
              as a deportee in accordance with subsection (8), but otherwise the
              prescribed authority shall direct the release of that person and he or
              she shall be released accordingly.
          (8) A deportee may be kept in immigration detention or such detention
              as the Minister, Secretary or Australian Border Force
              Commissioner directs:
                (a) pending deportation, until he or she is placed on board a
                    vessel for deportation;
               (b) at any port or place in Australia at which the vessel calls after
                    he or she has been placed on board; or
                (c) on board the vessel until its departure from its last port or
                    place of call in Australia.
          (9) In spite of anything else in this section, the Minister, Secretary or
              Australian Border Force Commissioner may at any time order the
              release (either unconditionally or subject to specified conditions) of
              a person who is in detention under this section.
         (10) An officer may, without warrant, detain a person who:
               (a) has been released from detention under subsection (9) subject
                   to conditions; and
               (b) has breached any of those conditions.
         (11) Nothing contained in, or done under, this section prevents the
              Supreme Court of a State or Territory or the High Court from
              ordering the release from detention of a person held in detention
              under this section where the Court finds that there is no valid
              deportation order in force in relation to that person.