“We call on all investment firms that serve as bondholders for the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island to divest from this institution and stop profiting off of dehumanization and family separation,” said Arely Diaz of AMOR in a statement. “The Wyatt Detention Center that continues to operate due to federal agency contracts is incarcerating people seeking asylum from violence and torture. We call on these firms to cancel the debts and put people over profit.”

On Monday afternoon, members from the Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (AMOR) delivered letters to two bondholders of the Wyatt Detention Center, demanding that the companies divest their financial holdings in the prison.

The corporations, Invesco Ltd and Eaton Vance Corp, are two of the largest bondholders in the Wyatt, which is a quasi-public non-profit prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Early in 2019, the Wyatt signed an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold federal immigration detainees.

Local groups, including AMOR, have been protesting the Wyatt’s involvement with ICE since this agreement was signed. In April 2019 the bondholders, represented by UMB Bank in Kansas City, filed a lawsuit with the city of Central Falls to keep the detainees in the prison.

The letters that were delivered to the bondholders included demands to divest financially and to pay restitution for the bonds of the people being detained by ICE at the Wyatt.

Executives from the companies would not meet with members of AMOR, but members read the letters aloud and left copies with the companies.

“We call on all investment firms that serve as bondholders for the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island to divest from this institution and stop profiting off of dehumanization and family separation,” said Arely Diaz of AMOR in a statement. “The Wyatt Detention Center that continues to operate due to federal agency contracts is incarcerating people seeking asylum from violence and torture. We call on these firms to cancel the debts and put people over profit.”

In Atlanta, other activists visited the Invesco headquarters to deliver the letter to their executives.

In New York, activists delivered a letter to the headquarters of Credit Agricole and BlackRock Inc two other Wyatt Bondholders.

Today we hand-delivered a letter to @CreditAgricole, demanding they divest from the Wyatt prison/ICE detention facility in Rhode Island. @CreditAgricole must stop profiting off of caging people and separating families. #FreeThemAll #AbolishICE #ShutDownWyatt @amornetwork pic.twitter.com/05GoOpJpWC

— eli (@eli02073753) November 4, 2019

Today we went to @blackrock to hand deliver a letter addressed to Ben Golub, and demand BlackRock divest from Wyatt prison/ICE detention facility. DIVEST now, @BlackRock_News. #AbolishICE #ShutDownWyatt @amornetwork pic.twitter.com/OErcLzLtW1

— eli (@eli02073753) November 4, 2019

Letters were also mailed to two other primary bondholders: Legg Mason Inc, and T Rowe Price Group Inc.

We also visited a branch of @InvescoUS, the largest bondholder in the Wyatt, demanding they financially divest. #ShutDownICE #ShutDownWyatt pic.twitter.com/6KU6OROFeB

— AMOR RI (@amornetwork) November 4, 2019

AMOR is a Rhode Island-based grassroots organization that provides community support for victims of state-sponsored violence.