If you have no problem with masked ICE agents sweeping up immigrants off our streets, at least two-thirds with no criminal history, and putting them in detention camps, then Citizens Bank may be the bank for you. Otherwise, you may want to avoid doing business with them or, if you already have an account at Citizens, close it and find another bank. Why? Because Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG), through its subsidiaries like Citizens Bank, is a principal lender to the two largest public corporations operating ICE detention facilities – GEO Group and Core Civic. While most banks have reportedly pulled out of financing these companies, Citizens has increased its ties. CFG has helped for-profit prison companies access over $2.6 billion in financing since 2012 through loans and lines of credit. Financing ICE detention is profitable; CFG reported first quarter 2026 net income of $517 million, an increase of 39% year over year. And what about conditions for detainees?  While DHS claims these detention facilities are safe and humane, detainees 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. These reports are corroborated by members of Congress who have managed to gain entry in spite of attempts to prevent access, a right mandated to members.  According to Human Rights Watch, the death rate has surged in these facilities since Jan., 2025 to a rate of four times that previously. An ACLU analysis of 2025 mortality data found 95% of these deaths were preventable. All are financed in large part by Citizens. You might ask, “What’s the problem?  Financing these private corporations is legal.” It’s lawful, that’s true. But so were slavery, gender-based discrimination and Jim Crow laws. What’s lawful can be awful. Information allows each of us to make choices about where we put our money. This applies to individuals, municipalities, businesses and our elected officials. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, known as a strong protector of immigrants’ rights, has $1.3 million in a Citizens Bank account as of March 31, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filing. Is he aware of the darker side of Citizens Bank?  Were you aware before reading this?  Perhaps not until now. “De-ICE Citizens Bank” is a grassroots initiative created in response to the growing outrage over conditions in detention facilities. We are calling for Citizens Financial Group to stop financing these facilities (to “De-ICE”). Until they stop, we’re urging individuals, businesses, municipalities and elected officials to stop banking at Citizens. In response to abuses prompting a hunger strike at Delaney Hall (a GEO Group facility) in Newark, Jersey City recently pulled $265 million in city funds out of the bank. New Jersey’s public worker pension fund sold off related bonds. The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) and Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) have mobilized over $24 million in pledged withdrawals if Citizens fails to take steps to de-ICE. As we get the word out, Citizens’ customers in these 27 Connecticut cities and towns with bank branches are rethinking their choices and saying, “Not with our money!” Johnny Rivera and Robin Gilmartin live West Hartford. ...read more read less