Laugh Factory Chicago Manager Arrested By Feds For Interfering With Immigration Operation
Laugh Factory Chicago is crowdsourcing to assist night manager Nathan Griffin with legal funds after he was arrested Friday morning outside the comedy club.
Despite being born in America, masked federal agents tackled him to the ground and reportedly took him into custody without due process, for attempting to intervene with an immigration operation.
A video of the arrest shows at least four agents in camouflage pushing Griffin to the ground and handcuffing him, briefly pinning his mother Elaine Plybon down in the process. “Why are you doing this? Where are you taking him?” bystanders could be heard shouting as he was put in the backseat.
“After being arrested and hidden throughout the system, he finally resurfaced about 4 hours after his detainment in FBI custody awaiting a hearing for a federal assault charge which could carry 8 years in prison if convicted,” wrote Griffin’s brother-in-law on a GoFundMe page for his attorney costs.
In a video since posted by his mother, she noted that her “voice is still very messed up” and her hand is hurting from the altercation. “For those of you who don’t know, I was in Chicago visiting my son, and he was kidnapped by Border Patrol in front of my eyes,” she said.
“When I think about going out the door in the morning, I don’t want to,” she added in part. “Because I do not want to encounter the SUV, the screams, the crying and the horrific things that I saw before I was pulled into the fray when somebody tried to kidnap my son.
Neighborhood resident Will Kolic told NBC Chicago he saw agents pull up and grab a man who appeared to be Hispanic before people gathered and “started screaming stop it,” before more agents stepped out of the vehicle and arrested Griffin.
A Border Patrol spokesperson told the outlet that Griffin “attempted to impede and obstruct federal officers” by attempting to shut the car door on an agent’s leg. “The individual was immediately detained and turned over to the FBI for investigation,” they said.
Chicago Police arrived on the scene around 9:20am in response to a call about a battery in progress, telling NBC they worked to “de-escalate and conduct crowd control to ensure all those who had gathered at the location remained safe.”
In a since deleted post by Laugh Factory Chicago, sharing the arrest video, they stated that Griffin’s family is aware of his arrest and “actively working to get his release,” according to CBS News.
Griffin’s arrest comes after the Trump administration deployed 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon, under the guise of law and order, in addition to boots on the ground in Chicago and other major cities.
