Citizens Bank’s role in financing ICE detention facilities has come under fire from a grassroots initiative called ‘De-ICE Citizens Bank’. The bank’s parent company, Citizens Financial Group, has increased its ties to the two largest public corporations operating ICE detention facilities, GEO Group and Core Civic, despite most banks pulling out of financing these companies.

Conditions in Detention Facilities

Detainees in these facilities have reported ‘punishing conditions, enforced isolation, neglect of people with disabilities, denial of access to counsel, and… inadequate medical care’. Both GEO Group and Core Civic facilities have been investigated for repeated sexual assaults of detainees by staff. According to Human Rights Watch, the death rate has surged in these facilities since January 2025 to a rate of four times that previously.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a strong protector of immigrants’ rights, has $1.3 million in a Citizens Bank account, raising questions about his awareness of the bank’s involvement in financing ICE detention facilities. The ‘De-ICE Citizens Bank’ initiative is calling for Citizens Financial Group to stop financing these facilities and for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and elected officials to stop banking at Citizens.

Local Response

In response to the growing outrage, Jersey City recently pulled $265 million in city funds out of Citizens Bank, and New Jersey’s public worker pension fund sold off related bonds. The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and Greater Cleveland Congregations have mobilized over $24 million in pledged withdrawals if Citizens fails to take steps to ‘de-ICE’.

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.