Citizens Bank is parting ways with two ICE contractors

Following months of protests outside its branches and Providence headquarters, Rhode Island’s largest bank announced Friday it is cutting its financial ties with two for-profit prison operators that have detained immigrants on behalf of the Trump administration.

Citizens Bank in a statement said it will end its credit facilities with GEO Group and CoreCivic,  two of the biggest contractors for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The company said the move was purely a business decision “based on changed commercial circumstances.”

CoreCivic recently sold two of its California properties to the U.S. government, and the chief executive officer of GEO Group indicated in a May earnings call that the Florida-based company is considering selling some of its properties to ICE.

CoreCivic, which runs more than 40 prisons and has won contracts with ICE totaling more than $2 billion, has been a Citizens client since 2011. The GEO Group, which operates about 50 prisons and correctional facilities with more than 60,000 beds nationwide, has worked with Citizens since 2018. 

Citizens has around 1,000 branches across 14 states concentrated mostly in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, along with the District of Columbia. The public company reported $233.8 billion in assets as of June 30. 

Citizens’ relationship with the private-prision led to the creation of a coalition that has organized numerous protests against the Rhode Island financial institution, including a demonstration outside its headquarters the day of its annual shareholder meeting in April.

Brown union to pull $500K from Citizens Bank over ICE ties. Boston faith leaders may follow.

During the demonstration, the union representing working graduate and undergraduate students at Brown University announced it planned to pull around half a million dollars it held in the bank. Michael Ziegler, president of AFT-RIFT Local 6516, said in an email Friday the union had not yet found a new bank and called Citizens’ decision “very good news.”

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization withdrew $3 million in protest over the last two months. In recent weeks, the governments of Montclair and Jersey City in New Jersey pulled a collective $300 million.

“Regardless of the rationale, this is the outcome that was needed,” the Most. Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond, a pastor at the Bethel A.M.E Church in Boston and former Citizens’ board member, said in a statement Friday. “Our immigrant friends, neighbors and allies deserve to know that community institutions they may have counted on are not directly enabling a system that has brought irreparable harm to neighborhoods across the country.”

The De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition issued a statement Friday afternoon calling the bank’s decision to end lending relationships with CoreCivic and GEO Group “an important victory for the people who refused to let a major bank finance human suffering brought on by ICE detention activities.”

“While Citizens Bank frames this exit as a purely ‘business decision’ dictated by evolving commercial circumstances, the reality is clear: public conscience and community resistance matter and have paid off,” the coalition said. “As we have said from the beginning, doing some good does not cancel out the harm caused by these business relationships.” 

Throughout the protests, Citizens refrained from commenting directly on its relationships with the two private prison firms, citing the importance of protecting client privacy. But given the decision to finally sever its financial ties, the company said now was an appropriate time to comment.

“Citizens has been disappointed that the activists have dragged it into what is largely a political matter,” the company stated. “Public characterizations of Citizens by activist groups, including as it relates to our commitment to immigrants and to communities, do not reflect who we are or the record we have built.”

The bank donates to 140 nonprofit partners serving immigrant communities across multiple markets, according to the Citizens’ statement. Citizens also highlighted that it provides $2 billion in community development funding to support affordable housing and local economic growth.

“None of these virtues seem to matter to the activist groups, as they have tried to define us through a narrow lens inconsistent with who we are,” the company said.

While applauding the company’s decision, the De-ICE Citizens’ coalition said it will continue pressing the bank for written confirmation that it has ended — and will not resume — any banking relationship with CoreCivic or GEO Group.

“Until we get all questions answered, we expect this will continue as customers align their personal values with banks they do business with,” the coalition said.

Spokespeople for CoreCivic and the GEO Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.