Bank of America is joining a growing corporate backlash against the detention industry.
The second-largest bank in the U.S. will stop issuing loans to companies that run private prisons and detention centers, its Vice Chair Anne Finucane told Bloomberg on Wednesday. The move comes a few months after JPMorgan and Wells Fargo divested from private prisons, and as Wayfair employees stage a walkout to protest the furniture company's work with migrant detention centers.
Bank of America "decided to exit the relationship" with for-profit prisons and detention centers after a review from its environmental, social, and governance committee, Finucane told Bloomberg. That review involved "site visits and consultation with clients, civil rights leaders, criminal justice experts, and academics," as well as "internal Hispanic and black leaders," Bloomberg writes. Finucane then declared there is "need for reforms in the criminal justice system and immigration."
JPMorgan and Wells Fargo made similar decisions in March, though JPMorgan suggested the industry's declining credit made its continued involvement too risky. GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two largest private prison companies in the U.S., saw their shares drop 17 percent last year, and each dropped more than 3 percent again on Wednesday, Bloomberg notes.
Meanwhile, employees at Wayfair are specifically expressing their opposition to migrant detention, with dozens of workers staging a walkout Wednesday that attracted hundreds of supporters. They're asking the company to stop a $200,000 sale of furniture that would be used in migrant detention facilities. Wayfair rejected the employees' demand but offered a $100,000 donation to the Red Cross instead. Kathryn Krawczyk
Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) may have chosen the wrong kind of run.
They're both competing for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race, with Ryan appearing in Wednesday night's NBC News debates and Swalwell making an appearance Thursday. But that also means they're skipping Wednesday's Congressional Baseball Game — and leaving the Democratic team without two of its stars, FiveThirtyEight reports.
On Wednesday night, Republican and Democratic congressmembers will compete not on Capitol Hill, but in Nationals Park in the annual Congressional Baseball Game. And just a few hours later, 10 presidential hopefuls will gather in Miami for the first round of Democratic debates, while another 10 will face off Thursday night. Those debates will feature four Congressional Baseball Game alumni, including Ryan and Swalwell, who would likely be on the field if it weren't for their more important plans.
And as FiveThirtyEight points out in a thorough breakdown of Wednesday's game, Ryan and Swalwell's disappearances could cost the Democrats big time. Ryan's eight past Congressional Baseball Games have earned in him an outstanding .500 batting average, .560 OBP, and .636 SLG. Meanwhile, Swalwell has stolen a respectable nine bases in his past five games.
Fellow candidates Jay Inslee and Beto O'Rourke also have Congressional Baseball Game stats, but O'Rourke's .000 batting average over one game means he probably won't be missed. Still, O'Rourke has a distinct advantage over Ryan and Swalwell when it comes to 2020 polling numbers — something that probably matters a bit more in the long run. Get a preview of the Congressional Baseball Game at FiveThirtyEight. Kathryn Krawczyk
Both parties in the Senate agree on one thing: There's a dire situation at the southern border.
The Senate on Wednesday voted 84-8 to approve $4.6 billion in emergency funding for the U.S.-Mexico border, sending $2.88 billion to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and other funding to the Defense Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The House's version of the bill passed Tuesday doesn't include the DoD or ICE funding, setting the two chambers up for reconciliation discussions, The Washington Post reports.
The Senate's vote came as outrageous conditions on the border become even more apparent, with reports indicating last week that migrant children were being held in disgusting conditions in a remote Texas detention facility. ORR, which cares for these children, has been cutting services as its funding dries up. The Democratic House's version of the emergency spending bill requires greater scrutiny of private detention centers that house migrants, meaning it will have to work with the GOP-held Senate to decide if that provision makes it to President Trump's desk.
Ahead of Wednesday's vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought up a stunning photo of a father and daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande, and asked Trump to see the migrants as "people fleeing a horrible situation in their home country for a better life." Trump has hinted that he prefers the Senate's version of the bill, and suggested the two chambers "get together" to work out a deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the House bill's stricter requirements "poison-pill riders which the president would veto." Kathryn Krawczyk