Citizens Bank has ended its relationships with prison operators CoreCivic and GEO Group, which hold contracts connected to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. The decision follows months of pressure from activists and is significant because banks’ financing and commercial ties can affect the companies that operate immigration detention facilities.

The move appears to concern the bank’s dealings with the two contractors rather than a change to federal immigration policy or ICE’s detention system itself. CoreCivic and GEO Group are major private-prison companies, and campaigners have long urged financial institutions to distance themselves from businesses involved in immigration detention.