Laugh Factory Chicago is crowdsourcing to help night manager Nathan Griffin with legal funds after his arrest Friday morning outside the comedy club.
Although he was born in the United States, masked federal agents wrestled him to the ground and allegedly detained him without due process for attempting to intervene in an immigration operation.
Video of the arrest shows at least four officers in camouflage gear pushing Griffin to the ground and handcuffing him, briefly pinning his mother Elaine Plybon in the process. “Why are you doing this? Where are you taking him?” Bystanders could be heard shouting as he was placed in the back seat.
“After being arrested and hidden throughout the system, he finally resurfaced approximately 4 hours after being detained at the FBI awaiting a hearing for a federal assault charge that could result in 8 years in prison if convicted,” Griffin’s brother-in-law wrote on a GoFundMe page for his attorney’s fees.
In a video since posted by her mother, she noted that her “voice is still very damaged” and her hand hurts from the altercation. “For those of you who don’t know, I was in Chicago visiting my son and he was kidnapped by the Border Patrol right in front of me,” she said.
“When I think about going out in the morning, I don’t want to do it,” she added in part. “Because I don’t want to encounter the SUV, the screaming, the crying and the horrible things that I saw before being pulled into the fray when someone tried to kidnap my son.
Neighborhood resident Will Kolic told NBC Chicago that he saw officers stop and grab a man who appeared to be Hispanic before people gathered around and “started yelling, stop it,” before other officers got out of the vehicle and arrested Griffin.
A Border Patrol spokesperson told the outlet that Griffin “attempted to obstruct and obstruct federal agents” by attempting to close the car door on an agent’s leg. “The individual was immediately arrested and turned over to the FBI for investigation,” they said.
Chicago police arrived on the scene around 9:20 a.m. in response to a call about a battery in progress, telling NBC they were working to “de-escalate and control crowds to ensure everyone who had gathered at the scene remained safe.”
In a since-deleted post by Laugh Factory Chicago sharing video of the arrest, they said Griffin’s family was aware of his arrest and was “actively working to secure 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 troops on the ground in Chicago and other major cities.
