WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition calls on Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase to stop financing two large for-profit private prison corporations, CoreCivic and GEO Group, which operate immigration detention centers where separated families are being held against their will. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are leading financiers of CoreCivic and GEO Group.
More than 70 organizations, including the ACLU, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, MomsRising, MoveOn, In The Public Interest, Little Sis, ACRE, Color of Change, Make the Road New York, AVAAZ, Enlace, Presente.org, the Center for Popular Democracy, and more, are demanding that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase stop financing these corporations that directly profit from family separation, detention, and incarceration. The petition comes at a crucial time when the population of immigrants held in private detention centers is expected to increase dramatically due to Trump’s harmful policies.
Cutting off the debt financing from banks would make it harder for CoreCivic and GEO Group to conduct day-to-day business operations, finance new facilities, and acquire smaller companies, all of which hurt immigrant families. An analysis of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings over the past ten years shows that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase has played a leading role in financing these debts. JPMorgan Chase is the single largest financier to GEO Group and CoreCivic, holding 62 percent more debt than the second biggest lender to these two corporations.
“The Prison Industry Lobby is fueled by Wall Street and banks like Chase and Wells Fargo. This lobby has been successful thanks to these banks and REIT status in kidnapping people from our community and profiting from our communities pain. We are building Freedom Cities to demand cities and local institutions cut ties with these banks and invest in alternatives like municipal banks. Freedom Cities are building visionary campaigns for immigrants and communities of color, together we fight for our collective liberation,” said Daniel Carrillo, Enlace Executive Director.
“This is an easy choice. JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo can choose to be on the right side of history and pull their financing for prisons that are directly profiting off the pain and trauma of families being inhumanely detained or separated by Trump’s ‘zero humanity’ policy. Or they can do nothing and condone one of the biggest humanitarian crisis of our recent history.” said Jess Morales Rockette, Political Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. “Basic decency should win over profits.”
“JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo want their customers to believe they stand with immigrants and people of color at the same time that they’re bankrolling oppression at private prisons and immigrant detention centers,” said Javier H. Valdés, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York. “Our community is not fooled—we see these backers of hate for what they are, and we are standing up to their hypocrisy.”
“By financing these for-profit prison corporations, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are complicit in the Trump Administration’s human rights abuses in the name of immigration enforcement,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising. “Millions of moms and families all over the country are outraged by the horror and abuse happening at these detention centers, and they will not stand for companies that further enable the separation of families.”
“The private prison industry emboldens the administration’s cruel immigration policies while making a killing from caging children and families. Private prisons run a morally bankrupt business model, causing great harm to our communities. No one should be in the torture-for-profit business,”said Matt Nelson, Executive Director of Presente.org. “We must deter private companies from investing, stop banks from financing, and eliminate the practice of elected officials granting contracts to this inhumane profit model. And, ICE should be abolished, and if you end the financial and political incentives that support the caging of immigrant families, as experts have said, the whole racket will fall on itself.”
“Trump needs private prison corporations in order to fulfill his racist promises, and private prison corporations need Wall Street banks in order to deliver,” said Jeremy Mohler, Communications Director of In the Public Interest. “We’re here to hold the banks accountable.”
“Our communities have suffered far too long at the hand of the private prison industry that profits from incarcerating people of color including immigrants,” said Cristina Jimenez, Co-Executive Director and Co-founder of United We Dream. “JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are complicit in the pain and suffering our communities until they stop financing for-profit prisons and investing in this racist industry.”
The #FamilesBelongTogether coalition calls on Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase to end this complicity and immediately stop their financial support for organizations that are profiting from mass incarceration and the criminalization of immigration.
Participating organizations in the rapidly growing coalition include:
#VOTEPROCHOICE
270 Strategies
ACLU
Action Together Massachusetts
ACRE
Action Together Network
Advancement Project
American Federation of Teachers
America’s Voice
Al Otro Lado
Alliance for Justice
Alliance for Youth Action
American Constitution Society
American Ethical Union
American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA)
Amnesty International USA
Anti-Defamation League
Arab American Institute
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
ASISTA
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) at the Urban Justice Center
Asylum Seeker Assistance Project
Avaaz
Bend the Arc
Beyond the Bomb
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Center for Popular Democracy
Center for Victims of Torture
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.
Chicago Women Take Action
Children’s Defense Fund-Texas
Church World Service
Coalition on Human Needs
Color of Change
Congregational UCC Greensboro
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)
Constitutional Accountability Center
Council on American-Islamic Relations
CREDO
Daily Kos
DC Immigration Hub
DC Teens Action
Dulles Justice Coalition
End Rape on Campus
Enlace
Equal Voice Action
Every Voice
Families Belong Together
Families USA
Feminist Majority Foundation
FIRM
Foreign Policy for America
Friends of the Earth
Gamaliel
Global Fund for Children
GreenLatinos
Greenpeace
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
Health Care Voter
Hispanic Federation
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights First
IfNotNow
Immigration Hub
Indivisible
In The Public Interest
Japanese American Citizens League
Jewish Voice for Peace
JStreet
JWI
Latin America Working Group
Latino Victory Foundation
Lawyers for Good Government
Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
LGBTQ Task Force
Little Lobbyists
Little Sis
Make The Road New York
MarchOn
MomsRising
MoveOn
Muslim Advocates
NARAL
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
National Iranian American Council
National Justice for Our Neighbors
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National Network to End Domestic Violence
National Nurses United
National Organization of Concerned Black Men
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Law Center
NCJW
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Education Association
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Network of Spiritual Progressives
NextGen America
One Billion Rising
Organizing for Action
Oxfam America
Pantsuit Nation
ParentsTogether
People For the American Way
People’s Action
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Positive Women’s Network-USA
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Presente.org
Priorities USA
Public Citizen
Race Forward
Rainforest Action Network
Really American
Resistance Labs
SALDEF
Sanctuary for Families
SEIU
SIECUS
Sierra Club
Sister District Action Network
Sojourners
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Southern Poverty Law Center
Stand Up America
SumOfUs
Tax March
The Leadership Conference
The Workmen’s Circle
Together We Will Contra Costa
Truman National Security Project
UltraViolet
UnidosUS
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ)
United State of Women
United We Dream
VDay.org
Voto Latino
Win Without War
Women’s March
Women’s March Foundation Los Angeles
Women’s Refugee Commission
Youth Caucus of America
YWCA USA
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Prison Industry Divestment Movement 