GBIO Withdraws $1 Million from Citizens Bank to Protest ICE Ties

On Monday, May 4, 2026, Greater Boston Interfaith Coalition (GBIO) withdrew $1 million from Citizens Bank in protest of their ties to ICE. This action marked the launch of GBIO's "Not With Our Money, Citizens!" campaign. GBIO is prepared to withdraw at least $13 million more with this campaign.

The campaign seeks to reduce the financial power of CoreCivic and GEO Group, the biggest players in the private prison industry supporting ICE operations.

Read the WGBH article about the action here.

Our very own Rev. John Edgerton was interviewed by Rachel Maddow on the campaign! Click here and skip to 35:50 to hear the story.

Here is a letter to the congregation from Rev. Edgerton:

Beloved of Old South,

What the church does with our money matters to me deeply because I know where it comes from.  It comes from the Starbucks Barista who puts their tips in the plate, the retiree who makes gifts on a fixed income, the family who gives while also figuring out how to fund a 529, the office worker who comes in to pray every morning and puts money in the donation box.  The church’s money is the money of the faithful, who trust that it will do good in the world.

That’s why I was so angry to learn that Old South’s bank—Citizens Bank—is using the deposits of its customers to fund the building of mass detention centers for ICE.  It is my pastoral duty to ensure that money you give to the church does good, not fund these terrible places where rights are ignored and our neighbors like Emanuel Damas die from lack of basic care.  

I’ve been quietly working alongside GBIO for months on a strategy to get Citizens Bank to cut all ties with CoreCivic and Geo Group, two notorious private prison companies.  Old South members William Wei and Eliette Hilaire have been hard at work on that issue team—on weekly calls even in the midst of full and busy lives.  Our strategy has been to organize faith institutions and individuals who have deposits at Citizens Bank, and use that as a lever to let them know that their own constituency wants them to stop this dirty business.  We organized over $14.5 million in deposits and then started communicating our concerns to the bank.  We have sent letters.  We attended a shareholder meeting in Providence.  Citizens Bank has not given us so much as a meeting.

So on Monday, GBIO withdrew $1 million of its own money from Citizens Bank, holding a press conference in front of the Copley branch.  WGBH picked up the story and ran with a quote from my comments.  That story was picked up by The Rachel Maddow Show, who called the church asking if I could be on the show live that evening. 

I was, to put it mildly, surprised at the invitation.

Since the segment on Maddow, Old South has received so many warm and kind notes from people across the country, grateful to see a church taking this kind of stand.  We have now before us a real opportunity to do good in the world, to resist and slow down the building of these abominable mass-detention centers.  We don’t have all the power in the world, it’s true.  But neither are we powerless in the face of wrongdoing.  

If you are a customer of Citizens Bank, and would like to participate in this customer action, you can participate in what we’re calling the GBIO Friends and Family portion of the Citizens campaign.  We would ask that you not withdraw your money—not right away—but instead let us know you would be willing to if asked.  That form is available at bit.ly/citizenspledge.

Dear friends, I know how much trust you place in the church, how much trust you place in me.  I promise I will always do my utmost to live up to that trust.

In hope,
John Edgerton
Senior Minister