The arrest went down just outside of municipal court.

Attorney Michael Noriega was walking with his client, a young DACA recipient from Ecuador who had just resolved a DUI complaint involving a scrape in a parking lot, when an SUV came tearing across the street.

It was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Three officers jumped out, grabbed my client, and put him across the hood," recalled Noriega, a Scotch Plains immigration attorney.

The handcuffs came out.

"They were professional. But it was a harrowing experience," Noriega said. "It didn't make any sense. There were less invasive ways to get this done."

Courthouses have increasingly become a focus of ICE, and immigration activists--as well as state officials--say it is having a chilling effect on the legal system.

"People are really afraid to go to court and it's having a big impact on the ability to administer justice in the court," complained Lauren Herman, an attorney for Make the Road New Jersey, an Elizabeth-based immigrant advocacy group.

In a recent survey, the group polled nearly 60 New Jersey legal and social service providers and found seven in 10 reported immigrant clients who were fearful of going to court over fears that they might be picked up by ICE. Others had clients who had withdrawn or failed to pursue orders of protection because they were afraid that ICE would track them to the courtroom. And half had clients afraid to serve as witnesses in criminal court because of ICE.

Nicole Miller, legal services director for the American Friends Service Committee, said ICE arrests in and around courthouses "interfere with the courts' fundamental mission to ensure access to justice for all--including unauthorized immigrants--whether they are victims of domestic violence or other individuals seeking protection or assistance from the courts or appearing as witnesses or defendants in criminal cases."

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, in a letter last month to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, raised similar concerns.

"Courthouses must be safe forums and federal immigration enforcement actions occurring at state courthouses compromise the integrity of our state's justice system," wrote Grewal.

Courthouse arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are sparking concerns by judicial officials and immigration advocates. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement file photo via AP)

Last year, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner also urged federal officials to refrain from enforcement activity in New Jersey's courthouses, which he said should be added to the list of so-called "sensitive locations" where ICE limits its enforcement activities--such as hospitals, schools and houses of worship.

"When individuals fear that they will be arrested for a civil immigration violation if they set foot in a courthouse, serious consequences are likely to follow," Rabner wrote.

Last month, however, ICE--which already had rules in place related to courthouse arrests--issued new policy guidelines publicly formalizing those policies.

"The increasing unwillingness of some jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the safe and orderly transfer of targeted aliens inside their prisons and jails has necessitated additional at-large arrests, and ICE felt it was appropriate to more formally codify its practices in a policy directive that its law enforcement professionals and external stakeholders can consult when needed," the enforcement agency said.

Some of the policy is "what's old is new," remarked immigration attorney Harlan York of Newark.

"But I agree that it harms the justice system when witnesses and litigants alike are afraid these days to set foot in courtrooms for fear of apprehension, which is why certain cities are making their own policies, of course," York said.

In its four-page directive, ICE said it will enter courthouses only for specific targets, such as convicted criminals, gang members, and immigrants who have been previously deported or ordered to leave.

"Family members or friends accompanying the target alien to court appearances or serving as a witness in a proceeding, will not be subject to civil immigration enforcement action, absent special circumstances, such as where the individual poses a threat to public safety or interferes with ICE's enforcement actions," stated the directive, which was signed by ICE acting director Thomas Homan.

It said that ICE officers and agents would generally avoid enforcement actions in areas within courthouses dedicated to non-criminal matters, such as family court or small claims court proceedings, unless approved by a supervisor.

An ICE spokesman, in a statement, said its agents "follows policy directives in regards to courthouse arrests."

Yet immigration attorneys believe that ICE agents have been staking out even municipal court proceedings, identifying and targeting unauthorized immigrants who have later been taken into custody just outside of the courthouse.

Noriega said he spotted plainclothes ICE agents the moment he walked into a Union County courtroom to represent a 19-year-old who he said had been charged on a DUI complaint after backing a car into another vehicle at a party.

"It was clear who they were. I saw them checking out the list and trying to stay low profile.," he said.

Although his client, who had come here at the age of four, was protected as a "Dreamer" under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a DUI charge is considered a serious misdemeanor disqualified him for renewal--leaving him vulnerable to deportation.

After he paid his fines, the agents were outside waiting for him.

"It was absolutely targeted," said Noriega. They were looking for him."

The young man, who Noriega did not want to identify, was held for three weeks before he was released on bond, and now faces removal proceedings.

In another municipal court case, Herman told of a woman and her spouse were both arrested last summer after she called Passaic police to file a domestic violence complaint. After a series of court appearances, Herman said the woman was arrested by ICE on her way out. She recognized one of the ICE agents who had been in court during the proceedings.

The woman, whose children are U.S. citizens, is now facing a removal order, said Herman, who also did not want to identify her.

Her husband, who Herman said had a prior domestic violence complaint against him, has already been deported.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.