Rev. John Edgerton, senior minister of the Old South Church, speaks at a press conference hosted by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. The religious coalition withdrew funds in protest of the bank’s support of two private prison companies that detain migrants.

Representatives from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization escalated their protest of Citizens Bank’s financial investment in two private prison corporations that house detained immigrants.

At a June 10 press conference six faith organizations across the region announced they were withdrawing a total of $2 million from accounts with Citizens Bank. The action was in addition to the $1 million previously removed in May.

“Our families, our neighbors, our friends and especially our immigrant community need to be assured that great institutions like Citizens Bank — that we rely on as community partners — are not directly enabling entities that are causing legitimate fear and harm to our community,” said James Yansen, pastor at Hyde Park Seventh Day Adventist Church.

The coalition of faith organizations are protesting Citizens’ investment in GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two largest private prison companies that partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A report by GBIO, released this month, found that the bank had provided more than $2 billion in financial support to the companies since 2012.

Both companies have been found to hold detained immigrants in inhumane conditions, including substandard or delayed medical care and playing part in preventable deaths. A May report from the California attorney general’s office found that at all seven detention facilities in the state in 2025 there were multiple violations of ICE’s detention standards; four of those facilities are run by GEO Group and two by CoreCivic.

The coalition also raised concerns about the detention of children and of labor exploitation.

For Yansen, whose church was withdrawing funds at the June 10 event, the joint action underlined the importance of the protest.

“We have representatives from temples and mosques and churches and cathedrals,” he said. “When you see this kind of unity, you have to stop and take notice.”

Members of the GBIO had withdrawn $1 million from Citizens accounts in May. The new withdrawal comes after the bank declined to meet with them, saying their allegations are exaggerated.

“We do so because we do not want to be complicit in this sin, continuing to allow our congregation’s funds to be used for the dehumanization and the oppression of our neighbors, our friends and our fellow human beings,” said Jonathan Kraus, senior rabbi of Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, another of the organizations withdrawing funds.

Organizations from GBIO said that Citizens Bank has long been a partner in supporting positive local efforts, but that they couldn’t support the funds going toward the two prison companies.

“They had been my friend for my whole life,” said Rev. Becky Binns, director of St. Paul Episcopal Church in Natick, who first opened an account with Citizens Bank when she was 12. “They treated us well when we came to them as a church. Our local banks have been our friends. But friends hold each other accountable.”

The action by GBIO members is part of a broader effort across the country. On June 6, there were 125 protests across 15 states outside of Citizens Bank locations, organized by the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition, including nine in Massachusetts.

At the June 10 press conference, Kurt Stange, representing Church of the Saviour in Cleveland, called the fight “personal,” pointing to the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, about an hour-and-a-half from Cleveland. There, he said ICE detainees have been housed in inhumane conditions and clergy have been prevented from visiting them.

Stange’s church is part of the Greater Cleveland Congregations coalition. The organization is joining with the broader movement and “we plan to stick with it,” he said.

Many religious organizations at the press conference said they weren’t withdrawing all the funds they had at Citizens Bank yet — “because we have hope,” Binns said. “But, if that hope is met with disappointment time and again, we will move all of it and we will do it quickly and we will tell others to follow suit.”

Last month, GBIO said it was prepared to withdraw at least $14 million. That amount is now over $23 million, Edgerton said.

While that sum is a fraction of Citizens Bank’s total funds, or even its investments in the two prison companies, GBIO members previously said they’re hopeful it would prompt others to join the movement. At the press conference, Edgerton called on other organizations and individuals who bank with Citizens to participate. Abdullah Faaruuq, imam at the Mosque for Praising Allah in Roxbury, invoked the efforts’ moral and religious motivation.

“God is on our side,” said Faaruuq, whose mosque was one of the organizations withdrawing funds. “So, I ask him, I say, ‘God, help us.’”

Advocates said that ultimately the point of the movement is to voice with their money their opposition to the two companies.

“We come from different faiths, we come from different backgrounds, but our message is the same,” Yansen said. “Not with our money.”