In front of the Citizens Bank headquarters in downtown Providence, hundreds gathered Thursday morning to protest the bank’s alleged financing of private prison companies operating federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. The protest occurred during the bank’s annual shareholder meeting and was organized by the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition, which includes multiple community and student groups including Brown Rise Up.
Equipped with megaphones and signs, demonstrators booed vehicles entering the Citizens Bank complex. Citizens Bank has allegedly provided funding to CoreCivic and GEO Group, two of ICE’s major contractors.
“We’re all out here outside Citizens Bank today to demand they stop financing ICE detention centers,” Raya Gupta ’29, a narrative team co-coordinator for Brown Rise Up, said in a speech at the protest.
“The Citizens Bank has given $2.5 billion to CoreCivic and the GEO Group, and this is our way of making sure that we stop that,” said Maira Magwene-Muniz ’29, a narrative team member for Brown Rise Up, in an interview with The Herald.
Peter Luecht, a spokesperson for Citizens Bank, did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
Graduate and undergraduate student employees represented by the RIFT-AFT Local 6516 union, which encompasses the Graduate Labor Association, announced that they would be closing their accounts with the bank due to the ICE ties. RIFT-AFT Local 6516 President Michael Ziegler GS wrote in a message to The Herald that the amount banked with Citizens Bank amounted to about $500,000.
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, or GBIO, which comprises over 60 religious groups and unions, also announced that they would pull $1 million from their accounts in Citizens Bank if the bank does not “move quickly to end its relationships with the prison companies,” according to the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition’s press release.
Before the protest began, roughly 15 students gathered in front of the Faunce Arch around 8:15 a.m. to walk downtown together.
“We need to change the rules of this game, to shift away from this logic of profit at all costs,” Gupta said at the protest. “This isn’t something that’s easy to do, but it’s worth fighting for.”
Following Gupta’s speech, mayoral candidate and state Rep. David Morales MPA’19 (D-Providence) also denounced Citizens Bank for funding the for-profit ICE facility operators.
“CoreCivic operates 16,000 detention beds. Their goal is to increase the amount of detention centers and beds by 13,000 by the end of this year,” Morales said in his speech. “And if that is to happen, it’s only going to be made possible because of the financing that they receive from institutions like Citizens (Bank).”
“We are telling Citizens (Bank) that now is the time to divest,” Morales said.
Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic wrote in a statement to The Herald that they “don't provide specifics about financial relationships beyond what (they) provide in (their) publicly available financial disclosures.” Gustin added that the company plays a “limited but important role in America’s immigration system.”
Gustin also wrote that the company’s “ICE-contracted facilities are subject to multiple layers of oversight and are monitored very closely by our government partners to ensure full compliance with policies and procedures.”
GEO Group did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
Speakers also pointed out the relevance of this issue to the Providence community, which has seen increased ICE activity over the last year. Last November, a Providence Superior Court intern was temporarily detained by ICE agents on College Hill, prompting a protest of over 100 community members.
“We have been seeing endless, countless sightings of ICE at the Garrahy courthouse (and) the Superior Court, and this is scary,” Muñiz said. “They’re spreading terror throughout Providence.”
“As a Brown University student, I see that as my duty to come down here and stop a financier of ICE’s terror,” she added.
ICE did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
People traveled from outside of the state to take part in the protest. Kim Jalet, who came from the Boston area, joined the protest to send the message that “it is okay to change their mind. It is okay to put people over profits.”
Denise Duval, who came to the protest from Connecticut, decided to participate because she wants people to “understand that these are concentration camps and (Citizens Bank is) funding that.”
ICE, Citizens Bank and GEO Group did not immediately respond to The Herald’s requests for comment. Gustin wrote in the statement sent to The Herald that CoreCivic’s “responsibility is to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to.”
According to the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition’s press release, the Citizens Financial Group CEO agreed to “meet with GBIO members to discuss their concerns.”
After the shareholder meeting ended, meeting attendee Rich Gatto spoke at the event, applauding the demonstrators for showing up. According to Gatto, he spoke with Van Saun after the meeting.
“(Van Saun) said to me, ‘I want to reassure you, we are going to take a hard look at how these companies are performing,’” Gatto said.
Marat Basaria is a senior staff writer covering activism.
