De-Ice Citizens Bank
- Aug 5
- 5 min read
UPDATE:
Citizens Bank ends relationship with ICE prison companies after months of protest
Citizens Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in New England, announced it will be ending its financial relationship with prison companies connected with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This decision comes after months of public outcry and hundreds of millions being divested from Citizens’ due to its relationship with Core Civic and The GEO Group — two companies that invest and operate in prisons used to detain ICE arrestees. Learn more from GBH Boston.
What's Next ? Check out this Live Document that shares on-going campaigns, some by folks in this org and others that are aligned (ie, targeting CoreCivic and GEO and other ICE machinery disruption).
To the Members of the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition and GBIO July 23, 2026
Congratulations! We did it.
As we have been saying for months: a bank that purports to care about communities has no business underwriting neglect, abuse, and mistreatment. Last week, Citizens Bank announced it is ending its credit facilities with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, the two largest for-profit prison companies, operating dozens of ICE detention centers across the country. Read More from the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition and Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
Letter to Bruce Van Saun, Citizens Bank CEO July 23, 2026:
Mr. Van Saun:
The De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition represents over 175 groups in 16 states. The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) is made up of more than 53 churches, synagogues and mosques and their members. Many individuals and organizations among us are Citizens Bank customers and shareholders, and are patrons of organizations the bank supports through its philanthropy.
As we have said for months, a bank that claims to care for communities has no business financing companies with documented histories of neglect, abuse and mistreatment at their facilities. We have stood in unified opposition to Citizens' lending relationships with CoreCivic and The GEO Group (GEO), private prison companies operating dozens of detention centers for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Doing good in one arena does not offset harm caused in another.
We welcome the news that Citizens is exiting credit facilities with CoreCivic and GEO.
While the action is a step in the right direction, your statement leaves important questions unanswered. We are asking Citizens to address the following questions publicly:
Timeline. When will existing credit facilities with CoreCivic and GEO be fully wound down?
Other financing channels. Does this exit extend to underwriting, bond issuances, or other capital markets support Citizens may provide to these companies, beyond direct lending?
Future credit. Will Citizens commit to no new loans, credit facilities, or renewals with these two companies, or with other private prison operators, going forward?
Inquiries from municipalities, investors, faith groups and other bank customers about moving deposits away from Citizens have continued since your announcement.
We will be watching for answers to these questions and monitoring the underlying facts in public filings and disclosures.
Sincerely,
The De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition and Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
Join Indivisible SouthCoast New England as we call attention to and fight against this injustice. Subscribe for Updates or Add Your Name to Our Action Team.
Why We're Taking Action
Citizens Bank is bankrolling the country's two largest prison companies that are earning record profits operating dozens of ICE detention facilities.
While most major banks have cut ties with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, Citizens Bank is deepening its financial support for these companies, which are already holding more than half of the people currently in ICE detention centers across the country.
The bank's capital is supporting a deplorable ICE agenda that aims to fill detention centers with more than 100,000 people by next year.
Even as it publicly touts its commitment to "strengthening our communities," Citizens Bank has played a key role in helping The GEO Group and CoreCivic access more than $2.5 billion in financing, some of it approved earlier this year. This comes as the companies face a mountain of allegations, including forced labor and wrongful deaths due to understaffing and medical neglect at their facilities.
We won't quietly stand by as Citizens continues to finance the private prison & ICE detention companies that are harming our communities. The 2019 exodus of banks from the industry in response to activism should be a reminder to us that our voices matter. Now it's time to use them.
Join us at our next New Bedford Protest:
Suggested Signs for This Action
De-ICE Citizens Bank
Cages Aren't Communities
Citizens Bank - Stop Financing ICE Prisons
Citizens Bank + ICE = Human Rights Abuse
ICE Prisons Don't Strengthen Our Communities
Citizens Bank - Cut Ties With ICE Prisons
Community & Safety Guidelines
Solidarity with Workers
We want to be in solidarity with workers including bank branch employees. Treat everyone with respect and do not harass or film employees.
Nonviolent Action
A core principle behind all Coalition events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. We expect hosts to ensure all participants in your event uphold this commitment.
We recommend all participants review a safety and security resource before your event, such as indivisi.org/safety.
-----------------------
Silencing Children's Voices
Thousands of children have been held in ICE facilities, including hundreds for more than the court-mandated 20-day limit.
“We forgot what it feels like to be free."
ICE has detained more than 6,200 children in CoreCivic and GEO Group ICE facilities since 2025, many of them for longer than the 20-day limit prescribed by courts — with some children as young as five held for more than nine months.
In legal filings last year, parents said their children were so desperate for toys that they resorted to playing with rocks at CoreCivic's Dilley, Texas facility. “Children were under so much psychological stress that parents said they were hitting their own faces or wetting themselves despite being potty-trained,” the Marshall Project reported.
After the Texas Tribune and ProPublica published drawings from children detained at the Dilley facility earlier this year, parents there reported a clampdown: CoreCivic guards searched rooms and removed the children's art supplies.
-----------------------
Miscarrying in ICE Detention
She was miscarrying in the middle of the night.
Although Lucia requested immediate medical attention, she was not taken to see medical staff until the middle of the next day.
CoreCivic employees left her bleeding alone for hours.
After hours of waiting alone, Lucia was transported to an emergency room
in shackles — only after losing enough blood to need a transfusion.
---------------------------
