#FamiliesBelongTogether Corporate Accountability Committee Letter to JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo
September 26, 2018
Dear Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase,
Over the last several months, immigrants who arrived at the U.S. southern border seeking political asylum are locked up on federal prisons, where they are alleged to be suffering from inadequate food, lack of health care and restricted access to fresh air and sunlight. [1] At the Trump Administration’s direction, children have been intentionally separated from their parents and held in detention, [2] immigrants seeking asylum have been incarcerated, [3] and, more recently, allegations have emerged of numerous cases involving federal officials’ verbal, physical and sexual abuse of migrant children within detention facilities. [4]
Our nation is in crisis. Due to Donald Trump’s destructive and divisive policies, ICE has expanded its “sweeps” and tripled the number of undocumented immigrants without criminal records it arrests. [5] Women, children, and families are being harmed and human rights abuses are happening in the name of immigration enforcement.
This is unacceptable.
Policies and practices that put kids in prison alone or with their families threaten who we strive to be as a nation. There can be no business in abuse.
We are outraged by your role in financing CoreCivic and GEO Group, two large for-profit prison corporations that are profiting off the pain and separation of families. Private prison companies hold contracts to operate detention centers that are being used to incarcerate adults and families.[6] In November, 2017, approximately 71% of the average daily population in ICE custody were held in privately operated jails.[7] Since ICE was created in 2003, 85 detention centers nationwide have reported a total of 176 deaths. Seventeen facilities have had three or more deaths, including eight at the CoreCivic detention center in Houston and 15 at the CoreCivic-owned Eloy Correctional Center in Arizona. Six have died at the privately owned GEO Group-owned Adelanto Detention Facility since 2011. [8]
Two of the private prison industry leaders, CoreCivic and GEO Group, depend on debt financing from banks like yours to conduct their day-to-day business operations, finance new facilities, and acquire smaller companies. An analysis of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings shows that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have played a role in financing these debts. [9] In doing so, these companies are complicit in and profiting from mass incarceration and the criminalization of immigration.
More than 80 organizations, that represent millions of members, are calling on your company to immediately stop all financing of CoreCivic and GEO Group.
We ask you to inform us about the actions your company intends to take on these issues immediately. Please note that we reserve the right to publicly disclose any information you may share with us, as the issue of human rights at the border and in communities across the nation is of great public concern.
Finally, we request a personal meeting to discuss our demands and how your company can proactively enact policies to support immigrant families in this moment. Contact: FBTcorp@berlinrosen.com
Yours sincerely,
The #FamiliesBelongTogether Corporate Accountability Committee
*Participating organizations in the #FamiliesBelongTogether Corporate Accountability project, petitions, letter and day of action include:
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)
Berkeley Law
Beyond the Bomb
California Immigrant Policy Center
Candide Group
Center For Popular Democracy
Center for Victims of Torture
Children’s Defense Fund — Texas
CISPES Santa Cruz
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
CMSM (Catholic Conference of Superiors of Men)
Congregation of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
Cosecha
Courage Campaign
CREDO
Daily Kos
Defending Rights & Dissent
Define American
Delia Garcia
Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries
Educators for Migrant Justice
End Domestic Abuse WI
End Solitary Santa Cruz County, CA
Enlace
Entre Hermanos
Equal Voice Action
Every Child Matters
Faith Action Network
Families Belong Together
Families Belong Together International
Franciscan Action Network
Franciscans. TOR
Freedom Forward
Global Exchange
Grab Your Wallet
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
Houston ISD
Immigration Task Force
In the Public Interest
Indivisible Kirkland
Indivisible Whidbey
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
Interfaith Worker Justice
Jobs With Justice
La Luz Center
La Raza Centro Legal
LIFT
LittleSis
Madrid Resistance
Mainers for Accountable Leadership
Make the Road CT
Make the Road Nevada
Make the Road New Jersey
Make The Road New York
Make the Road Pennsylvania
Millennial Politics
MomsRising
MoveOn
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Muslim Solidarity Group
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
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
National Migrant Seasonal Head Start Assoc
Native Organizers Alliance
Natl Migrant Seasonal Head Start Association
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New York Communities for Change
NEXUS Equal Justice
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
OBHC
OneAmerica
Organize Florida
Our Revolution Central Texas
Pacifica Social Justice
Peace Action Group of Plymouth Church UCC, Seattle WA
People’s Action Institute
Real Money Moves
Resource Center for Nonviolence
Sanctuary Santa Cruz
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — Institute Justice Team
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
Suit Up Maine
Texas AFL-CIO
The University of Michigan School of Social Work
Topanga Peace Alliance and MLK Coalition for Jobs, Justice and Peace
Topanga Peace Alliance, and MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
UAW Local 4121
UltraViolet
Undoc-UOtters & Allies
UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza)
United Farm Workers
United for a New Economy
United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN)
United We Dream
United We Dream Austin Chapter
UoP
Vermont Interfaith Action
Waco Immigrants Alliance
Wallingford Indivisible
Wallingford Indivisible, Seattle
Washington State League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
WIA
WILPF Santa Cruz
Win Without War
Women+s March Washington State
Youth Caucus of America
[4] https://www.thenation.com/article/six-year-old-girl-sexually-abused-immigrant-detention-center/ and https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-obtains-documents-showing-widespread-abuse-child-immigrants-us-custody
[6] https://news.littlesis.org/2018/06/21/who-is-profiting-from-incarcerating-immigrant-families/
[9] https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_BanksPrivatePrisonCompanies_Nov2016.pdf and https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_JPMorganPrivatePrisons_FactSheet_Jan2017.pdf and https://populardemocracy.org/bankrollingoppression
