Over 50 Organizations Urge Citizens Bank to Cease Financial Relationships with CoreCivic and GEO Group
Both companies operate ICE detention centers, including Delaney Hall in Newark.
Newark—June 18, 2026: More than 50 community organizations, unions, advocacy groups, and small businesses today submitted a petition to the Citizens Bank Board of Directors calling on that financial institution to sever financial relationships with CoreCivic and The GEO Group. These private corporations operate ICE immigrant detention centers, including the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth and Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.
“This is not a political request,” the petition states. “It is a moral one...Financial institutions are not passive actors in the economy. They make choices about which businesses and industries they fund. Those choices have consequences for families, for communities, and for the rule of law. We believe, as a matter of principle, that banks and financial institutions have both the opportunity and the responsibility to align their lending and investment practices with values of equity, justice, and respect for human dignity.”
“These Newark and Elizabeth detention centers have become emblematic of the Trump administration’s persistent and immoral war on immigrants, communities of color, and our nation’s constitutional and civil rights,” said NJCA Director of Financial Justice Beverly Brown Ruggia. “Attacks on immigrants and people of color are effectively attacks on all of us as New Jerseyans. No bank, or any private enterprise, should support or enable policies that allow the abuse of human rights.”
CoreCivic and The GEO Group have been accused of operating facilities where, according to a June 2, 2026 lawsuit filed by New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, The Geo Group refused state health inspectors full access to the medical unit, sleeping areas, bathing and toilet areas of Delaney Hall in violation of State law amid reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including spoiled food, denied medical care, and the spread of communicable diseases such as COVID-19, influenza, and a possible case of tuberculosis. Our nation’s Fifth Amendment guarantees due process to all persons on U.S. soil, regardless of immigration status. The right to adequate medical care, freedom from cruel and degrading treatment, and access to legal counsel are not privileges; they are constitutional and legal protections.
ICE is currently detaining more than 70,000 people nationally, over half of whom are being detained in facilities owned by CoreCivic and The GEO Group. Officials that included New Jersey Members of Congress, Governor Mikie Sherrill, and state health inspectors have until very recently been denied access to these detention centers, and continue to have limited access to inspect facilities or engage with detainees.
The petition’s signatories collectively call on Citizens Bank to:
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Immediately end all credit, financing, and financial services to CoreCivic and The GEO Group.
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Publicly commit to a policy against financing private detention operators whose facilities have been found to violate constitutional standards or applicable federal, state, and local law.
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Engage directly with affected communities, detainees, families, and the organizations that represent them, as part of any review of these relationships.
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Meet with community organizations to discuss this issue and the path forward.
Jersey City has divested from Citizens Bank due to its financial ties with CoreCivic and The GEO Group; there have been also protests directed at the bank because of its ties. The petition notes Citizens Bank’s “commitment to community reinvestment and New Jersey communities” but also states that “commitment is undermined when the same institution simultaneously finances the private detention infrastructure that tears immigrant families and communities apart, without any consideration of the human impact of its business relationships. Immigrant communities are the backbone of the neighborhoods Citizens serves.”
“We call on all financial institutions to cut ties with any companies that have been helping ICE tear New Jersey families apart, disrupt and terrorize our communities, and undermine our civil rights,” said Leila Amirhamzeh, NJCA Director of Community Reinvestment.
Organizations that signed on to the letter:
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New Jersey Citizen Action
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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
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AFT New Jersey
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Black Lives Matter NJ
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BlueWaveNJ
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Care in Action
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Cooper River Indivisible
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CWA Local 1037
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CWA Local 1081
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Fair Share Housing Center
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Faith in New Jersey
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Fort Lee Visibility Brigade
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Gateway Community Action Partnership
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Greater New Jersey Chapter Of The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist
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GWB Indivisible
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HPAE - Health Professionals and Allied Employees
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Hyacinth Foundation
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Indivisible Central NJ
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Indivisible Cranbury
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Indivisible Highland Park NJ
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Ironbound Community Corp
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Latino Action Network
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Montclair Indivisible
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National Domestic Workers Alliance
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Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners
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New Jersey Coalition of Religious Leader
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New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition
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New Jersey Policy Perspective
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New Jersey Working Families Alliance
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New Labor
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Newark Teachers Union
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NJ Communities United
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NJ Resistance
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OneNJ7
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Plainfield Area Indivisible
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Professional Paperwork Services
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PSK Strategic Solutions
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Rapha HealthCare Services Healing Initiative
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Region Nine Housing Corporation
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RUBY’S VISION INC.
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Salvation and Social Justice
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Sandkamp Woodworks LLC
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SEIU 32BJ
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SJNOW Indivisible
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SOMA Action
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SPAN Parent Advocacy Network
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The Institute of Music for Children, Inc.
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The Resistance Alliance
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The Waterfront Project
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West Essex Indivisible
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El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City y Pueblos Cercanos
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Workers United
