January 23, 2025

“Bank of America’s statement today that it ‘would never close accounts for political reasons and don’t have a political litmus test’ is not supported by the facts. In June 2019, Bank of America announced that it would stop offering banking and credit services to longtime federal contractors working in the criminal justice and immigration systems, including The GEO Group and CoreCivic. These contractors have been a limited but valued part of the solution to serious challenges facing the U.S. criminal justice and immigration systems for decades, providing flexible, cost-effective solutions to our government partners under both Democratic and Republican administrations. 

“At the time, Bank of America joined JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo, and other major financial institutions in de-banking our sector in response to protests by extreme opponents who repeated false claims about our member companies, and whose actual objective was to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention altogether. Bank of America and other big banks chose to prioritize politics over the basic rights of respected U.S. companies which were simply contracting with the federal government and dozens of states to provide needed services. 

“We appreciate President Trump raising this important issue directly with the CEOs of these financial institutions. It’s past time for them to correct their past mistakes and make clear – in word and deed – that politically-motivated ‘de-banking’ has no place in America.”