Citizens Bank to cut ties with CoreCivic and GEO after a fierce public pressure campaign

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NEW YORK (AP) — Citizens Bank said it plans to wind down its financial relationship with two private prison companies that have been government contractors under the Trump administration to help run immigration detention centers, bowing to public pressure from advocates and left-leaning city governments.

Citizens provided banking services to CoreCivic and The GEO Group, both companies that own or run private prisons throughout the country. Under President Donald Trump, both companies have been contracted by U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement to operate detention or deportation centers as part of the Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration.

The bank came under an intense public campaign for its relationship with CoreCivic and GEO who demanded that Citizens cut ties with the two companies. At least two city councils in New Jersey — Montclair and Jersey City — have voted to withdraw their money from Citizens if they did not cut ties with the private prison operators.

“Today’s announcement that Citizens Bank will exit its current lending relationships with private prison giants CoreCivic and The GEO Group is an important victory for the people who refused to let a major bank finance human suffering brought on by ICE detention activities of the current federal administration,” said the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition, in a statement.

In a statement, Citizens said they were ending their relationship with the two companies purely for business reasons and not because of political pressure. The federal government has said it plans to buy several facilities run by CoreCivic and is in talks to do so with GEO. Because of this, Citizens said the companies' financial needs have been reduced.

“This is a business decision based on changed commercial circumstances and does not reflect any change in our view regarding these companies’ business models or operations,” the bank said in a statement.

Banks cutting ties with businesses or individuals is known as debanking, and it has become a politically charged topic in Trump's second term. Under the Trump administration, bank regulators have been conducting investigations into bank's debanking practices, with the potential of these bank regulators issuing fines or penalties to any banks that are found to have committed debanking.

“All banks, including ourselves, must consider these regulatory and contractual frameworks in making decisions on who to bank or not bank," Citizens said.