This summer, following a multistate protest campaign led by multifaith organizations, Citizens Bank announced it was ending its financial relationships with CoreCivic and GEO Group, the two largest operators of private immigration detention centers in the United States. Citizens had been one of the last major banks routinely lending to the two companies; in 2019, eight banks, including JPMorganChase and Wells Fargo, moved to stop most of their financing of private prisons and detention centers.
While a secular pro-democracy group had been pushing for Citizens to follow suit since January, pressure began to mount this spring when Greater Cleveland Congregations and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization formed an alliance, launching an “organized money campaign” called Not With Our Money. On scheduled days, campaign participants would withdraw their money en masse from Citizens, no matter the amount.
“Your amount may seem too small to matter, but movements are not built by a few large gifts,” the new faith-based partnership wrote on its campaign website. “They are built by many people deciding enough is enough.”
