The Immigrant Defense Network began after the 2024 election, when COPAL convened more than dozens of immigrant, labor, legal, faith, and community a to prepare for growing threats to immigrant families and constitutional rights. Publicly launched in February 2025, that founding table has grown into a regional network connecting organizations, trained leaders, and communities across the Upper Midwest.

Today, more than 100 organizations work through IDN to build a regional line of defense and solidarity for immigrant communities. Partners share trusted information, training, rapid-response systems, legal referral pathways, family support, and strategies for public accountability. More than 35,000 people have been trained as Constitutional Observers across 30 Upper Midwest cities, creating a powerful community-led infrastructure for protecting rights across geographic and organizational boundaries.

Our work is both immediate and long-term. We respond when families and communities face enforcement, violence, or separation. At the same time, we build the relationships, leadership, and regional coordination needed to confront the systems that create fear and instability.

IDN’s vision reaches beyond any single city or state. We are building an Upper Midwest where communities can respond together, immigrant families can live with dignity, public institutions are accountable, and people of every background have the power to shape our shared democracy.

When one community is targeted, the region responds. Immigrants are our neighbors, family members, coworkers, business owners, students, and community leaders. Their dignity, freedom, and belonging are inseparable from the strength of our communities and the future of our democracy. When our freedoms are threatened, the brave among us show up.