Who are The GEO Group & CoreCivic?
The GEO Group (GEO) and CoreCivic are the largest private prison companies in the country, and two of ICE's most important corporate partners. More than half of the tens of thousands of people currently in detention are being held in one of their facilities.
They have spent millions of dollars lobbying and donating to the politicians who determine detention policy and budgets. And several administration officials—including Tom Homan, Pam Bondi, and David Venturella—have worked directly for GEO in years past.
Both companies' histories are riddled with serious allegations
of severe human rights abuses and misconduct, along with
near-constant litigation.
How is Citizens Bank involved?
Citizens Financial Group has been a financier of the private prison and detention industry since at least 2012.
In 2019, in response to grassroots activists and shareholder pressure, eight of the country’s largest banks ended their relationships with the private prison industry. But Citizens Bank stayed the course.
Citizens doesn’t just provide loans. The bank also arranges and coordinates complex credit and bond deals, working alongside other banks. If the for-profit prison industry’s lenders were a football team, Citizens would be the quarterback.
Since 2024, Citizens has played key roles helping GEO and CoreCivic access more than $2.5 billion in financing, including
$100 million in January 2026.
THE WHOLE STORY
Want to see the receipts?
Our friends at Boycott Citizens have compiled a detailed timeline of Citizens Bank's history with ICE detention companies, complete with links to SEC filings documenting these relationships.
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What are we asking Citizens to do?
Citizens Bank says it's committed to fostering strong communities. We're asking that they live up to that commitment.
ICE detention operators profit from the destruction of our communities—even the imprisonment of children—and by backing them, so does Citizens.
​So we're demanding that they end their current financial relationships with all private prison and ICE detention and transport companies
and publicly commit not to do business with them in the future.