| Dear Katy, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are still funding GEO Group and CoreCivic, the biggest operators of private prisons and immigrant detention centers in the United States. Their funding makes possible GEO Group and CoreCivic's day-to-day operations and those of facilities that detain and abuse separated families.1 More than 100,000 CREDO members have already signed petitions demanding that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase get out of the dirty business of deportations and mass incarceration. Now, we're partnering with the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition to turn up the pressure and show Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase that customers and consumers are not afraid to align their money with their values. Add your name now. Tell Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase: Break up with private prisons or we'll break up with your banks. Click here to sign the petition. This Valentine's Day, immigrants and allies are taking this fight directly to Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase branches across the country. Together, we will deliver tens of thousands of petition signatures and make clear that if these banks don't take action to help end the criminalization and detainment of Black and Brown communities, we will – by pledging and encouraging others to break up with them and switch to banks that actually respect our communities. It's important to remember that mass incarceration and immigration detention are intimately connected. More than 60 percent of incarcerated immigrants are held in private prisons built by GEO Group and CoreCivic.2 These corporations collectively hold nearly $4 billion in debt. They are set up as real estate investment trusts, which allows them to dodge some taxes but prevents them from holding a lot of cash. That means they can't pay bills without frequent loans – loans that make a lot of money for the banks. In 2017, GEO Group and CoreCivic paid their lenders $217 million.3 All banks like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase need to do is stop providing loans, and these prisons would not be able to function. A few months ago, CREDO cut financial ties with Wells Fargo. Will you join us today? The more of us who use our consumer power to hold big banks accountable for financing hate, the more momentum we build to force them to divest from companies who are caging our communities. Tell Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase: Break up with private prisons or we'll break up with your banks. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/break-up-with-backers-of-hate?t=7&akid=31531%2E12967895%2EHmgQzP Thanks for standing up to the financial institutions that are bankrolling hate, Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets P.S. Click here for more information on how to break up with your bank. Add your name: References: - Robin Urevich, "Newly released documents reveal mounting chaos and abuse at a troubled ICE detention center," Fast Company, Jan. 29, 2019.
- James Peltz, "Wells Fargo launches ad campaign to leave accounts scandal behind. Not everyone is buying it," Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2018.
- Ibid.
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