The former political director for Governor Tim Walz’s campaign in 2022 now leads a nonprofit effort reportedly created for “organized resistance” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Edwin Torres DeSantiago was described by the Star Tribune last month as the manager of the Immigrant Defense Network (IDN), a project of Comunidades Organizando El Poder y la Accion Latina (COPAL), which is one of several Minnesota organizations behind “direct action trainings” which purportedly inform residents, “how to read judicial warrants, and contribute to a repository of data for legal challenges by recording agents’ conduct.”
Attendees also learn, “whistle codes for summoning crowds,” and organizers provide, “links to rapid-response clearinghouses,” according to the outlet.
IDN itself held a training session on Tuesday in Saint Paul, part of its Brave of US Tour that instructed attendees on becoming,”Constitutional Observers to protect and defend our immigrant neighbors.”
IDN did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Tennessee Star, asking whether the group was involved with the activism that took place prior to the fatal shooting of Good, or whether she received training or participated in activism with the network. The group also did not reply when asked about what tactics are taught at its events. There is no public evidence that Good had any affiliation with IDN.
DeSantiago’s role with IDN comes after a series of roles on various political campaigns in Minnesota, including for Walz, according to his biography at the University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, which includes DeSantiago as a Ph.D student in its faculty listings.
“A seasoned political strategist and senior public affairs advisor at NewPublica LLC, Edwin brings over a decade of experience from his leadership roles in electoral and issue campaigns at the local, state, and national levels,” according to the university.
NewPublica LLC is a Minnesota-based public relations firm that lists at least seven nonprofits among its clients.
The university biography also wrote of DeSantiago, “His work has contributed to historic victories for prominent Minnesota figures, including Governor Tim Walz, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, US Senators Tina Smith, and Amy Klobuchar.”
According to his account on the social networking website LinkedIn, DeSantiago worked for the Walz campaign from July 2021 until November 2022, when the governor successfully won a second term in office. DeSantiago was the Walz campaign’s political director.
In 2021, the profile shows DeSantiago worked as Minnesota’s full-time COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Director, and during the 2020 campaign he worked for both U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), after previously working for Smith’s campaign in 2018.
The account also shows DeSantiago in 2023 first became a board member at COPAL, which describes itself as “a member-based organization established in 2018 to improve the quality of life of Latine families,” before becoming the Board President in May 2025.
Since the establishment of IDN last year, COPAL has raised over $1.4 million in publicly reported donations to support the network, including $995,000 from the Bush Foundation, which said the money would be used to help, “establish the Immigrant Defense Network (IDN) to improve coordination among organizations serving immigrants and their families,” with emphasis on creating “media strategies that help tell the stories of immigrants and their contributions in communities throughout the region.”
Other donors include the McKnight Foundation, who provided COPAL with $350,000, “for the establishment, strengthening, and tool creation of the Immigrant Defense Network,” and the Northwest Area Foundation, who provided “$100,000 to support development and expansion of the Immigrant Defense Network through public outreach, rights education, mental health training, emergency response services, and regional collaboration across the Upper Midwest.”
Though there is no public link between Good and IDN, the group notified its followers on social media of “confirmed federal activity” at the location of the fatal shooting about one hour after it occurred.
“We need more Trained Constitutional Observers: stay alert,” wrote the activist network, before advertising the COPAL Helpline. “We will continue to share verified reports as they come in.”
In a post shared on Monday, IDN warned its social media followers of “increased federal enforcement” after the Trump administration said it would deploy 2,000 immigration agents to Minnesota, and advised them to call the COPAL Hotline if they spot immigration enforcement, “or if anyone is impacted and needs support.”
The $1.4 million in donations to COPAL for the IDN were reported publicly by the foundations that made them in 2025, but the 2024 form 990 tax filing for the COPAL Education Fund, the 501 (c) (3) organization used to create IDN, reveals the nonprofit was already well established that year, when it recorded over $4.1 million in contributions. It also raised $2.4 million in 2023.
COPAL also consists of a 501 (c) (4) organization, which can engage in political advocacy and does not publicly disclose its donors, that raised $546,483 in 2024.
Walz on Wednesday publicly called for Minnesota to complete its own investigation into the shooting.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Edwin Torres DeSantiago” by Edwin Torres DeSantiago and “Anti-ICE/No Kings Protest” by COPAL MN.
