To the editor:

Readers may remember a letter to the editor a few months back alerting them that Citizens Bank was lending money to two companies investing in ICE detention camps that house as many as 35,000 immigrant detainees.

We are pleased to report that the bank is now ending this practice (see the Providence Journal, July 21). Citizens Bank’s press release claims this is a business decision, but given the number of protests, letter campaigns, and financial boycott, it’s more likely that the bank responded to political pressure.

The campaign to pressure Citizens Bank to cease its involvement in the ICE jails was put together by the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition, an alliance of 100 groups from across the country, including Stand Up Rhode Island. According to the Providence Journal, Peyton Fleming, spokesperson for the coalition, wrote in a news release that “public conscience and community resistance matter and have paid off. … [This is] an important victory for the people who refused to let a major bank finance human suffering brought on by ICE detention activities of the current federal administration.”

Thank you to all those who participated in rallies, wrote letters to Citizens Bank, or withdrew money from the bank. As this shows, we can make a difference. We are glad that Citizens Bank has made this decision. It was the right thing to do.

Lisa Smolski, Co-Chair, Stand Up Rhode Island; Ann Harrington, and Celine Keating
Bristol