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The Montclair Township Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pull all of the town’s money — about $91.1 million — out of Citizens Bank, protesting the bank’s financing of the private companies that run federal immigration detention centers.
The July 14 resolution authorizes Montclair’s chief financial officer to divest “all Township funds from Citizens Bank as soon as is practicable” and strikes the bank from the town’s list of approved depositories. Town records show the deposits equal more than four-fifths of Montclair’s $106.8 million annual budget, making Citizens one of the town’s largest banking relationships.
Montclair is the latest New Jersey municipality to move its money. Jersey City voted last month to divest from Citizens. The De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition, which organized the pressure campaign, says the two New Jersey towns have pulled more than $330 million combined. Neighboring Bloomfield’s governing body discussed a similar step the night before Montclair’s vote.
“I believe that this is the right thing to do,” Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen said during the meeting. “We can 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.”
The resolution grounds the decision in Montclair’s identity as a “welcoming town” and in the Montclair Trust Act, adopted in April, which bars the township from spending time or money to help carry out ICE operations.
It lays out a detailed case against the bank: Citizens Financial Group, it says, has financed the private prison and detention industry since at least 2012, helping GEO Group and CoreCivic — the country’s two largest private detention operators — access more than $2.5 billion in financing. Citizens provided $100 million to GEO Group in January.
GEO Group operates Delaney Hall in Newark under a $1 billion federal contract. Lawmakers, state officials and immigrant advocates have alleged poor living conditions, inadequate medical care and a lack of transparency at the facility. CoreCivic runs the Elizabeth Detention Center, the state’s oldest immigration facility.
The resolution asserts that “Montclair families have been detained at Delaney Hall and Elizabeth Detention Center and consequently have been torn apart and irreparably harmed.”
Montclair Indivisible, which drove the local campaign, told NJ.com it began investigating Citizens early this year after learning of the bank’s ties to the detention operators and then filed a public-records request that revealed how many nearby towns, including Montclair, banked there.
Members have protested outside Delaney Hall for close to a year and outside Montclair’s Citizens branch every other Saturday.
“We are proud that our Township of Montclair ... made the decision to divest and ensure that our tax dollars are going into a financial institution that reflects the values of our town,” members Laura Kenny and Carol Costello wrote.
Peyton Fleming, a spokesperson for the De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition, told NJ.com the campaign launched in January with two dozen protests and has since grown to hundreds nationwide, including a “Not with Our Money, Citizens” effort he said has generated more than $25 million in withdrawal pledges from individuals, unions and faith groups.
The coalition is also pressing municipalities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, including Boston, he said.
Fleming said the pressure won’t ease “until the bank cuts all financial ties, all financial agreements, with GEO Group and CoreCivic.”
Citizens defended its record to NJ.com. “We are disappointed that Montclair Township (has) taken this step because the facts show that we have a strong record of corporate responsibility,” said Peter Lucht, the bank’s head of corporate communications. “Citizens does not set public policy, nor do we make decisions based on political affiliation or ideology.”
Lucht said the bank provided $2 billion in community development funding last year and supported 140 nonprofit partners serving immigrant communities.
Following the council vote, Citizens announced Friday that it plans to exit the credit facilities associated with GEO Group and CoreCivic.
The bank said the decision was driven by changes in the companies’ financing needs rather than activist pressure. “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,” Citizens said.
In a statement, the De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition called the announcement “an important victory” but said it will continue its campaign until Citizens provides assurances that it will end all current and future banking relationships with the companies.
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The coalition has a regional day of action planned for Saturday, with protests at Citizens branches across the Northeast.
Montclair Township Manager Stephen D. Marks told NJ.com that the town has prequalified 11 banks and is still in the process of soliciting proposals.
Marks, whose office will carry out the divestment, declined to weigh in on the decision itself. “The mayor and council set policy,” he said. “The municipal administration stands to implement all such policies.”
Lia Opperman is a breaking & trending news reporter for NJ.com, where she covers business openings and closings, criminal justice, political and legislative developments, and other wide-ranging stories. Before... more
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