After months of protests, boycotts, and municipal divestment campaigns, Citizens Bank announced it is ending its lending relationships with GEO Group and CoreCivic — the two largest private operators of U.S. immigration detention facilities. The advocacy coalition that organized against the bank immediately declared victory. Citizens' own explanation for the decision tells a more complicated story.

In a statement, the bank said the federal government has already purchased several facilities that had been owned by CoreCivic and signaled plans to buy more from GEO Group — converting both companies from capital-intensive prison owners into what Citizens called "service companies" with reduced need for the kind of large-scale financing Citizens provides. "This is a business decision based on changed commercial circumstances," the bank said, adding that it does not reflect "any change in our view regarding these companies' business models or operations."

A campaign that built for months before the announcement

Whatever the bank's official framing, the timing followed a sustained pressure campaign. The De-ICE Coalition organized billboards, a banner flown over the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, pickets, and protests at Citizens branches. An interfaith coalition in Boston withdrew $1 million from its account in protest. And in the days immediately before Citizens' announcement, two New Jersey townships — Jersey City in June, then Montclair on July 14 — voted to pull $91.1 million in municipal funds from the bank specifically over its financing of GEO Group and CoreCivic, which respectively run the Delaney Hall and Elizabeth immigration detention centers nearby.

"Over more than a dozen years, Citizens Bank has arranged for and helped provide some $2 billion in financing for GEO Group and CoreCivic."— Paul Barrett, journalist, in an op-ed announcing he'd closed his Citizens account

Skepticism on both sides

The De-ICE coalition welcomed the outcome while openly rejecting the bank's rationale, calling it "an important victory for the people who refused to let a major bank finance human suffering" and noting: "the reality is clear: public conscience and community resistance matter and have paid off." The coalition is now seeking written assurance from Citizens that the relationships are fully terminated, not just wound down. Meanwhile, GEO Group and CoreCivic remain deeply profitable — GEO reported $2.6 billion in 2025 revenue, up 6% year over year, and CoreCivic reported $2.2 billion, up 13% — suggesting that losing one bank's financing is unlikely to meaningfully slow either company's expansion under current ICE detention contracts.