Faith Leaders Withdraw $1 Million From Citizens Bank Over Ties to Immigrant Detention Giants

A faith-based coalition in Greater Boston is putting Citizens Bank on notice. On Monday, clergy with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) publicly withdrew $1 million from their accounts at Citizens Bank to protest the bank’s financial relationships with CoreCivic and GEO Group, two notorious companies running immigrant detention centers across the United States.

The group rallied outside Citizens Bank’s bustling Copley Square branch, demanding the bank sever ties with these private prison operators known for profiting off the suffering of detained immigrants. “We’re deeply troubled with what they are doing with our money,” said Rev. John Edgerton, senior minister at Old South Church in Back Bay. “We will not stand for building private prisons, for building deportation machines, for crushing our neighbors underneath their wheels for profit.”

CoreCivic and GEO Group control more than half of the 72,000 detention beds nationwide, with documented records of inhumane conditions including violence, understaffing, and inadequate medical care. These abuses have deadly consequences. The protest comes just two months after Emmanuel Cleeford Damas, a Dorchester resident, died in ICE custody in Arizona after being transferred despite family bail efforts. His death is one of over two dozen in ICE custody this fiscal year alone.

The clergy emphasized their moral imperative to act. “Faith without action is dead,” said Rev. Ray Hammond of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. “Faith with organized people and organized money can transform the world.” Rabbi David Lerner of Temple Emunah, also a Citizens shareholder, invoked scripture to condemn passivity: “The Bible says, ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.’ We act today because our traditions command us not to stand idly by.”

While the $14.5 million collectively withdrawn by GBIO members is a fraction of Citizens Bank’s $200 billion in assets, the coalition hopes their symbolic stand will grow and send a clear message. “If you are engaging in things that are unjust, that has an impact on your business,” Lerner said. “We’re not standing by, we’re going to call it out.”

Citizens Bank, CoreCivic, and GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment. This protest adds to mounting pressure on financial institutions to end their complicity in the private immigration detention system, which continues to fuel human rights abuses and deaths under the current administration.