Protesters seek to bring attention to how immigration detention is financed
Medford residents protest in front of Citizens Bank because of its financial ties to the federal governments' immigration detention and deportation program.
Protesters in front of Citizens Bank on Riverside Avenue in Medford today said they want to bring attention to the bank's ties to the private prison system, specifically to the immigration detention camps the federal government has been building across the country.
"We're here today in front of Citizens Bank in Medford to make people aware of the fact that Citizens Bank is one of the main funders of ICE prisons and also ICE transportation methods, trucks and planes," said Nancy Roosa.
The bank, she said, finances two groups, CoreCivic and The Geo Group, to the tune of billions of dollars to build prisons and to transport detainees.
Nancy Roosa explains why people were protesting in front of Citizens Bank in Medford on Saturday, March 7. GOTTA KNOW MEDFORD VIDEO/Wendall Waters
Medford resident Elizabeth Stevens said she had been a happy customer at Citizens for decades but recently decided to stop doing business with the bank.
"I'm horrified by the actions of ICE, and I'm disappointed in Citizens bank," Stevens said. "They are funding the expansion of private prisons, expanding dramatically, to house immigrants who should not have been arrested in the first place."
According to BoycottCitizens.org, nine banks have pledged to stop lending to organizations in the private prison industry but Citizens is not among them.
According to "Investigate, a Project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)," it is hard to tell now which banks are still involved. According to AFSC, lending has been done through loan syndicates, with one financial institution acting as administrator and not all banks being named.
Longtime Medford resident Gerard Thibualt said, "We're looking to kind of take down the pillars that are supporting the ICE efforts and the horrible deportation policy the Trump regime is pushing on the people."
"Most of the banks around the country have gotten out of this business," Roosa said, "and we are asking Citizens to stop its relationship with ICE. We just want to make people aware and think about whether they want to be supporting Citizens Bank."
