WHY Wells Fargo

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Millions of immigrants have been and continue to be incarcerated in for-profit prisons and detention centers that are run by the Geo Group and Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), the nation’s two largest players in the for-profit prison industry. Wells Fargo, along with some of the largest financial institutions in the country, are major investors in these corporations. PCASC is confronting Wells Fargo as part of a national Prison Divestment Campaign that is demanding that these institutions cut their ties with institutions that profit off the criminalization of immigrants.

PCASC seeks to publicize all the connections between Wells Fargo and the for-profit prison industry. The majority of immigrants who are detained and deported are held in ICE contract prisons run by either GEO Group or CCA. Abuses in these facilities have been widely documented and include wrongful deaths (both from lack of medical care and from assault), rape, sexual abuse, and other violent treatment of prisoners. With the financial support of Wells Fargo and other Wall Street giants, GEO Group and CCA are able to successfully defend or absolve themselves in court against any lawsuits brought by community members, and lobby Federal and State governments for more private prison contracts. These lobbyists are also the architects of laws that profile and criminalize immigrants and communities of color, an investment strategy aimed at increasing their margin of profit. Wells Fargo has deep ties to the corporations pushing for these racist policies, tearing families apart and destroying communities, while simultaneously and aggressively marketing themselves not only as a hometown, community bank, but as friends and advocates of this growing community.

PCASC sees Wells Fargo’s ties with the for-profit prison industry as a crucial conflict of interest that is an imminent threat to every  community’s health and livelihood. We will continue to expose Wells Fargo’s investments and demand that it sever all ties to the racist industry of private prisons and immigrant detention centers.