Citizens Bank will end its lending relationships with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, the two largest private prison and immigration detention operators in the country, the bank announced Friday, July 17. The decision came days after neighboring Montclair voted to pull $91.1 million from the bank over those same ties.
The pressure campaign
The Montclair Township Council voted unanimously Tuesday, July 14, to withdraw all township funds from Citizens Bank. The amount represents more than 85 percent of Montclair's $106.8 million annual budget. Montclair Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen said at the July 14 meeting that the council could "make the conscious choice not to be complicit in putting our residents' taxpayer dollars into a financial institution that financially supports these concentration camp private prisons."
Jersey City voted in June to divest from Citizens. Together, the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition says the two municipalities have pulled more than $330 million combined from the bank. Bloomfield's governing body discussed a similar step on Monday, July 13, according to NJ.com.
The De-ICE coalition launched its campaign in January with two dozen protests. It has since grown to hundreds of demonstrations nationwide and generated more than $25 million in withdrawal pledges from individuals, unions, and faith groups.
Citizens Bank's response
In its July 17 statement, Citizens framed the move as purely commercial. The federal government plans to purchase several CoreCivic facilities and is negotiating similar deals with GEO, reducing those companies' financing needs.
"This is a business decision based on changed commercial circumstances and does not reflect any change in our view regarding these companies' business models or operations," the bank said.
Citizens also noted that federal regulators under the Trump administration have been investigating banks' "debanking" practices, with the potential for fines. The bank said all institutions "must consider these regulatory and contractual frameworks in making decisions on who to bank or not bank."
The De-ICE coalition called the announcement "an important victory" but said it would continue pushing until Citizens provides assurances that all current and future banking relationships with the two firms are severed.
What's behind the money
Montclair's resolution cited Citizens Financial Group's financing of the private detention industry since at least 2012, helping GEO Group and CoreCivic access more than $2.5 billion in credit. Citizens provided $100 million to GEO Group in January 2026. GEO operates Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, under a $1 billion federal contract. CoreCivic runs the Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey's oldest immigration facility.
Essex County context
The banking fight follows Essex County's own move to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Board of County Commissioners unanimously passed an "ICE Out of Essex County" resolution on Wednesday, May 13, prohibiting ICE and Customs and Border Protection from entering non-public areas of county properties without a judicial warrant. That policy took effect Thursday, July 9.
Commissioner Brendan Gill, who introduced the resolution, told NJ.com it was "fiscally responsible," arguing that county law enforcement dollars should protect residents rather than subsidize the federal ICE budget.
Montclair Township Manager Stephen D. Marks told NJ.com the town has prequalified 11 banks and is soliciting proposals for a replacement banking relationship. Neither the Millburn Township Committee nor the Livingston Township Council has taken up the Citizens Bank divestment issue as of Friday, July 18.
