It’s a frigid, snowy Tuesday afternoon, and I’m standing on a narrowly shoveled sidewalk near Citizens Bank in Middlebury. I’m with just a few other community members, holding up signs, trying to get the attention of passersby. Why?

Citizens Bank has long financed private prison and detention facilities. Citizens is a lender to companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, which have caused widespread, documented harm to people in their facilities. There have been years of allegations of forced labor, healthcare neglect, and other abuses. Now, almost 90% of immigrants held in detention are in privately run facilities, according to an analysis by the data gathering and research group Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The two largest private immigration detention facility operators are CoreCivic and The GEO Group.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have proposed a seismic increase in detention capacity, which will benefit CoreCivic and GEO Group enormously.

There are about seven Citizens Bank branches or offices in Vermont, including the one based in Middlebury. As other lenders have cut ties to CoreCivic and GEO Group, Citizens Bank has continued financing private prisons and the mass detention, deportation, and surveillance of immigrants. When depositing your money, consider a local or community bank that has pledged not to lend to CoreCivic and GEO.

It’s infuriating to think about how the ICE detention system has grown larger and more abusive than ever. The Trump administration is rushing to detain ever-greater numbers of immigrants as part of its mass deportation push. Standing on a snowy sidewalk in front of this bank is perhaps one significant way to hopefully raise awareness around the issue of the funding of private prisons for immigrant detention.

If you would like to become more involved in raising awareness about how Citizens Bank enables our unjust system of private prisons and detention centers, you can contact Indivisible Middlebury at: [email protected] with “Citizens Bank” in the subject line.

Michele Fay
Ripton