When the 20-something Canadian was arrested by federal immigration agents leaving the Ballston Spa Village Court, her laundry was still spinning in the laundromat. She'd just gotten a new puppy. She was getting ready to propose to her American girlfriend, the reason she had moved to the Capital Region on a valid professional visa.

The young woman was at the courthouse on Nov. 2, 2017 facing a check forgery charge. She told her attorney it was a mistake and the alleged victim had begged the bank not to press charges.

When the woman left court, she saw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers dressed in camouflage outside. They arrested and detained her in Albany County jail, where she shared her story with Albany Law School professor Sarah Rogerson.

Rogerson and other attorneys got the young woman released after her immigration case was terminated because her criminal case was still pending. Her lawyers haven't heard from her since.

This young woman, whose attorney did not share her name to protect her identity, was relatively lucky in the midst of skyrocketing ICE arrests inside and near New York courthouses under President Donald Trump's administration.

ICE doesn't track arrests in courts. But statewide data collected by attorneys and advocates reveals that ICE courthouse arrests in New York have increased 1,700 percent since 2016, according to a report released by the Immigrant Defense Project last week. Incidents increased slightly in 2018 compared to 2017.

While most cases were in New York City, there were at least 18 incidents reported in the Capital Region last year. For the first time, cases were reported in Fulton and Rensselaer counties.

Researchers worry that they don't understand the full scope of the problem because data is voluntarily reported by local attorneys and advocates.

"In New York City there is a volume of cases, but there are more eyes and ears. It could be happening upstate but we don't know because we can't be in every city and town court," said Rogerson, who began researching the issue after she met the young Canadian woman in 2017.

Bryan MacCormack, executive director of Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, a grassroots immigrant support group, recalled an estimated 10 additional cases in or nearby courts in Hudson, Livingston and Kinderhook in the past two years.

Lee Wang, supervising immigration attorney at the Immigrant Defense Project, an advocacy organization based in New York City, said that in a vast majority of cases, immigrants were in court for minor offenses. Some were married to U.S. citizens and arrested in front of their spouses or children.

Attorneys and advocates argue that ICE courthouse arrests interrupt the criminal justice system and create a climate of fear that keeps undocumented immigrants away from courts.

"It interferes with the regular administration of justice," said Rogerson. "Some of these individuals are alleged to have committed crimes, but they haven't been convicted because they're in court."

MacCormack said ICE courthouse arrests don't only affect the defendants apprehended.

"There is a chilling effect that ripples throughout the community, damages trust in the police and courts, causes violations of civil liberties, such as due process and speedy trial, and discourages victims from coming forward or following through on their cases," he said. "Community members literally call our organization and ask us if we know a judge who is safe to ask to officiate a wedding."

The spike in courthouse arrests mirrors an expansion of immigration enforcement priorities under the Trump administration that includes arresting immigrants with legal status who are charged with or convicted of a crime. Those arrested face detention and sometimes deportation.

While ICE's tactics aren't clear, court dockets are public record, so if ICE is keeping track of certain individuals, the agency can show up on their day in court. Advocates also speculate court officers in some cases contact ICE, especially in incidents when a person was arrested when he or she did not have a scheduled court hearing.

ICE issued a policy directive on the issue in January 2018. It said courthouse arrests target aliens with criminal convictions, deportation orders or who entered illegally after being removed and "are often necessitated by the unwillingness of jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the transfer of custody of aliens from their prisons and jails." The directive tells officers not to conduct collateral arrests like picking up a companion of a defendant and to avoid arrests in public places in the courthouse and inside non-criminal courts like family court.

The state Office of Court Administration (OCA) issued its own policy in April 2017 stating that law enforcement officials must identify themselves and inform judges if a defendant in their court is a target. The OCA policy, however, only applies to state courts at the city level and above. Town and village courts make their own rules.

In the Capital Region, Saratoga County is the locus of ICE action in the courts and incidents there demonstrate how these policies play out in practice.

Court officers in OCA-run courts are required to file a report when ICE makes a courthouse arrest. One report obtained by the Times Union from October 2017 revealed that a man and his companion showed up at Saratoga Springs City Court in response to a traffic ticket. He didn't have a scheduled court appearance, but ICE officers showed up to arrest him and his companion. This was after OCA's memorandum was issued but before ICE's policy directive.

In November 2017, the Times Union reported that ICE arrested a man outside a courtroom in the same court. It was the same day that ICE arrested the young Canadian woman at Ballston Spa Village Court 7 miles away.

Courthouse arrests in the Capital Region Below is a sample of courthouse arrests that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement have made in the Capital Region. These reports were collected by the Immigrant Defense Project. Click on the map points for more details about each arrest. Use the filter to select a court. Source: The Immigrant Defense Project Cathleen F. Crowley / Times Union

Arrests at Saratoga city and county courts continued steadily last year — with six cases reported in 2018 versus seven in 2017. The most recent incident was this past September.

Saratoga Springs City Court Judge Jeffrey Wait said he has been informed about ICE's presence within the security area of the courthouse — once while on the bench because it involved a defendant in a case before him — but wouldn't comment further on the issue.

"OCA has a policy and I'm obligated to follow it," Wait told the Times Union.

In an April 2018 incident in Columbia County reported to the Immigrant Defense Project, a Chatham police officer providing security at Chatham Town Court arrested a defendant inside a courtroom after his case was called. He handcuffed him and walked him out the back door of the court to the parking lot where ICE agents were waiting.

The Times Union attempted to contact Chatham police and Town Court about their policies regarding ICE. The police chief, who was traveling, did not respond to email. The court clerk and judge, who work part-time, also did not respond before deadline.

As more information comes out about ICE in the courts, political will for change is stirring. Long Island Democrat Michaelle Solages in the New York state Assembly and Manhattan Democrat Brad Hoylman in the state Senate introduced a bill this legislative session that would outlaw arrests without a valid warrant of people in court proceedings in state courthouses.

"ICE has created an environment where survivors of gender crimes have to decide between seeking justice, with a real possibility of being deported, or remaining silent in the shadows. Fearing potential implications for themselves, friends or family, fewer individuals feel safe interacting with the justice system, making it all the more challenging to promote public safety. The Protect Our Courts Act will ensure that New York remains a safe haven for our New American communities, " Solages stated.

At a hearing in Albany on Tuesday, New York's Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks said he would consider a new rule requiring ICE to have a judicial warrant, authorized by a judge, to make courthouse arrests. Lucian Chalfen, OCA's director of public information, said that agents increasingly have been conducting arrests with warrants signed by judges.

Attorneys and advocates say passage of the bill would be a step in the right direction but wouldn't solve the problem. The Immigrant Defense Project's report revealed that while a majority of courthouse arrests in the Capital Region in 2017 occurred inside courts, most in 2018 took place outside courts — at the steps, on the street, in the parking lot.

"My fear, unfortunately, is that even if ICE out-of-courts legislation passes in the New York legislature, ICE will wait two blocks down," MacCormack said.

MacCormack said his organization is working with officials to figure out ways to reduce the necessity for people to appear in court as one of the ways to prevent ICE detention in court and preserve due process.

"If you don't protect a certain radius around the courthouse, then you really impair an individual's ability to access justice. It's cold comfort to litigants," Rogerson said. "If ICE is around the courthouse, undocumented folks are going to be afraid to go."

Mary Armistead, an attorney with Albany legal aid organization The Legal Project, said that last week one of her teenage clients decided not to move forward with an application for a special immigrant juvenile visa because it would have required going to family court to get a custody order. The client's family asked Armistead how likely it was that they would be arrested at court.

"My approach to this issue is very difficult for me," Armistead said. "I can tell them it's a relatively low risk and give them the qualifiers, but at the same time, it's my duty as an attorney to tell them of this risk. I want to see them move forward, because it's their best chance of status, but it's not up to me to determine what risks they're willing to take with their family."

Now, Armistead is looking for other guardians to sponsor the teenager. If she doesn't find one in the couple of months before the teenager turns 18, he won't be able to apply for this visa — his only option to live legally in the U.S.