1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Want to see the power of the individual backed by the First Amendment? An anonymous (no longer) Texas mother of two teenagers was disturbed by the actions of ICE across our country. She asked herself: “Who owns these chartered airliners that are flying the men to a Salvadoran prison? Who owns these detention centers where men were being held along the way?" In short, what companies were taking money from the government to help deport people? So she built an interactive Google Map titled, “Who is Profiting from ICE?” It plots the contractors across the country who work with ICE to carry out the Trump administration’s deportation policies. Her website has resulted in hundreds of protests across the country against these companies, shaming them into cutting ties with ICE. In one case, an East Coast bank broke with two prominent detention center contractors after account holders – including Jersey City, NJ – withdrew more than $350M. When she began her research in April 2025, two big names immediately caught her attention. GEO Group and CoreCivic were awarded nearly $1B combined by ICE in the first year of the Trump administration’s crackdown. The two companies provide staff for detention centers, beds to house them, and ankle monitors to surveil those out on bond awaiting their hearings.  She also discovered that Wells Fargo and Bank of America pledged to stop working with the pair, so she wondered – who is still lending to these companies? She found an answer: Citizens Bank, a Rhode Island institution with more than 1,000 branches on the East Coast. She posted her research on boycottcitizens.org. Including a detailed Google Map that shows the nationwide web of companies, law enforcement agencies and politicians with ties to ICE. By March, 70 protests were planned at Citizens banks. By June, it was up to 140, spanning 17 states. The group collected individual withdrawal pledges from Citizens’ customers totaling $25M. They demanded corporate responsibility for supporting ICE actions. The US government found her website, too. And labeled it a tool for domestic terrorism. In response, the Trump administration’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued controversial guidance to banks, warning of “fair access” violations for those who cut off loans to fossil fuel providers, gun manufacturers and private prisons. Her research also includes a searchable map of ICE’s contracts with other major US companies that span the nation: AT&T, Comcast, Dell, Deloitte, FedEx, Motorola and Palantir. And that caught the attention of DHS. She says her online database is an important tool for transparency, protected as free speech. DHS says it’s information that could be used by “anarchist extremists.” That’s according to a secret intelligence bulletin DHS sent to local and federal law enforcement in February, specifically targeting her website. DHS used the same alert for her website that it reserves for domestic terrorists. In the past, DHS has used the same code to flag information on ISIS beheading videos and pipe bombs in cities. The bulletin concedes, in red letters, that “some of this information describes First Amendment-protected activities.” They buried the lede. She also followed the money for political donations and found more than 450 candidates across the country had taken campaign contributions from some of the three biggest government contractors working with ICE – GEO, CoreCivic and Management and Training Corporation. Her website database shows contributions to candidates ranging from tiny county GOP committees to national elections. In AZ alone, the companies contributed to nearly 80 candidate campaigns. More of their money is flowing toward influencing local elections, according to the data. In 2025, GEO spent $1.7M on federal and national candidates and $2.3M on state and local elections. CoreCivic spent $1.7M on federally and $1.6M on state and local lobbying. They give to both political parties. All of the info she publishes is part of the public record. But corporations hope we just don’t pay attention. Politicians have a choice when taking campaign cash. And we should pay attention to who’s giving them what. One Texas woman certainly is. And as a result her government is monitoring her for telling us the truth. She’s not scared. We must not be either when we demand truth and accountability from our elected officials. We’re the boss. Remember?