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 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 have 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.

“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.”

“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.

“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 petition include:

 18MillionRising.org
350Seattle
Action Center on Race & the Economy
Action Group Network
Action NC
Adores of the Blood of Christ, US Region
AFT Washington
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)
Beyond the Bomb
Candide Group
Center for Popular Democracy
Center for Victims of Torture
Children's Defense Fund - Texas
CISPES Santa Cruz
Conference of Superiors of Men (Catholic Religious)
Courage Campaign
CREDO
Daily Kos
Defending Rights & Dissent
Define American
End Domestic Abuse WI
End Solitary Santa Cruz County, CA
Entre Hermanos
Equal Voice Action
Every Child Matters
Faith Action Network
Families Belong Together
Franciscan Action network
Franciscans. TOR
Freedom Forward
Global Exchange
Hand in Hand
Houston ISD
In the Public Interest
Indivisible Kirkland
Indivisible Whidbey
Jobs With Justice
LittleSis
Mainers for Accountable Leadership
Make the Road New Jersey
Make the Road New York
Millennial Politics
MomsRising
MoveOn
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Institute for Reproductive Health
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
Native Organizers Alliance
New York Communities for Change
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
OBHC
OneAmerica
Peace Action Group of Plymouth Church Seattle, UCC
Plymouth Church
Presente.org
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Suit Up Maine
The University of Michigan School of Social Work
Topanga Peace Alliance, and MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
UAW Local 4121
UltraViolet
UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza)
United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN)
United We Dream
Vermont Interfaith Action
Wallingford Indivisible
WIA
Win Without War
Women+s March Washington State
Youth Caucus of America