Jessica Cisneros calls on Henry Cuellar to join major banks in rejecting private prison companies money
“When major banks are cutting ties with private prison companies that commit human rights violations, it’s past time for Rep. Cuellar to refuse their money as well.”
Q2 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc
LAREDO, TX -- In response to an announcement from major banks committing to end ties with GEO Group and the private prison and immigrant detention industry, Jessica Cisneros, Democratic candidate for Congress in Texas’ 28th District called on her opponent Rep. Henry Cuellar to stop accepting their campaign contributions.
“I call on Rep. Cuellar to take this money from groups that profit of migrant suffering and donate it to organizations that lift up our immigrant communities, like RAICES, the Texas Civil Rights Project, or countless others,” said Cisneros. “When major banks are cutting ties with private prison companies that commit human rights violations, it’s past time for Rep. Cuellar to refuse their money as well.”
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third Bancorp, Barclays, and PNC Bank have all announced they will “not renew $2.4B in credit lines and term loans to industry giants GEO Group and CoreCivic.”
Prison companies - GEO ties
In 2018, Rep. Cuellar was the third largest recipient of donations from the GEO Group in both the House and Senate. Cuellar received $32,400 while Senator Rick Scott received $70,400 and John Culbertson received $32,900. The vast majority of the GEO Group’s contributions have been to Republicans. In the 2020 cycle, Rep. Cuellar has already received $14,700 from the GEO Group PAC.
Cisneros is challenging 15-year incumbent Rep. Cuellar, who voted nearly 69% of the time with President Trump in the last Congress.
“This is yet another example of Rep. Cuellar siding with Trump and the Republican Party on policies that work against the people of South Texas,” said Cisneros. “As the daughter of migrant farmworkers who grew up on the border, I have seen the consequences of the Trump administration’s racist and inhumane immigration policies. Through my work as an immigration attorney, I witnessed firsthand accounts of the conditions inside detention centers — people given spoiled food, issued previously-used underwear, and forced to walk through waste water for days.”
