Minneapolis, MN – More than 20 immigrant rights protesters marched into Wells Fargo Bank on Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street on Nov. 7. They held signs inside the bank then presented their demands to a regional bank manager. They demanded that Wells Fargo divest all money from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group.

These are the corporations that run the for-profit prisons that are jailing thousands of Central American children and mothers in Dilley and Karnes, Texas. Since summer 2014 thousands of children have fled violence and poverty in Central America and made the dangerous journey through Mexico into Texas to seek asylum. But upon arrival they have been imprisoned in Texas under terrible conditions and threatened with deportation, even though most have credible asylum claims and therefore by law shouldn’t be deported.

A federal judge has twice ordered the Obama administration to stop imprisoning children seeking asylum. But the administration continues to delay complying with the judge’s orders, while shuffling some of the children to another prison in Pennsylvania.

A large amount of CCA and GEO Group’s profits come from jailing immigrants. According to reports, Wells Fargo holds millions of dollars of stock in CCA, and a smaller amount in GEO Group. Reports also state that Wells Fargo has a line of credit of more than $700 million with CCA and is the bookkeeper for $300 million of GEO Group’s corporate debt.

After presenting their demand to the bank manager that Wells Fargo divest all money from CCA and GEO Group and stop profiting from the jailing of refugee children, the protesters returned outside and vowed to continue the campaign to end family detention until all children seeking asylum are freed.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). It was part of a national week of action to #EndFamilyDetention initiated by the Legalization for All Network.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #WellsFargo #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #Protest #immigrantRights #Antiracism

Provo, UT – Students and community members protested in front of the Wells Fargo building on April 6 to voice their opposition to Wells Fargo’s hypocritical marketing. Wells Fargo deeply invests in privately owned prisons through firms like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the U.S.

CCA operates several immigrant detention centers throughout the country while financially backing anti-immigrant legislation such as Arizona’s infamous Senate Bill 1070. SB 1070 promotes racial profiling of Chicanos, Mexicans and American Indians and gives police the power to arrest based on whether individuals are carrying identification documents. Wells Fargo and the CCA want more arrests, to increase the numbers of people in immigrant detention centers, thereby raising revenues and profits.

The Utah Valley Dream Team, an immigrant rights organization, led the protest with the Revolutionary Students Union (Utah Valley University chapter) supporting them.

Wells Fargo also advertises extensively in Spanish-language media, informing listeners that they do not need an ID to open up a bank account. At the same time, Wells Fargo is financing the state laws and immigrant detention centers, leading to the harassment, detention and deportation of undocumented workers.

According to event organizer Augustino Diaz, “We gathered to expose Wells Fargo’s financing of private prisons and lobbying efforts that separate and destroy families, especially in the undocumented community.”

During the protest members of the Dream Team closed their accounts with Wells Fargo, informing the bankers that they would be moving their money elsewhere due to the company’s investment in privately owned prisons.

#ProvoUT #CapitalismAndEconomy #InJusticeSystem #WellsFargo #RevolutionaryStudentsUnion #CorrectionsCorporationOfAmerica #UtahValleyDreamTeam

Community supporters marched the boards and 7000 petition signatures on behalf of Jessica English – a homeless single mother who has recently reclaimed an abandoned Wells Fargo home – to demand the bank call off their illegal eviction attempts and negotiate with English. English has come home from work twice over the past two weeks to find that Wells Fargo had boarded up her home while she was gone – which is illegal without a court order under Minnesota law.

Meanwhile, at the capitol, banker-turned-Senator Jim Metzen, D-South Saint Paul, refused to allow the Homeowner Bill of Rights to be heard in the commerce committee because the bank lobbyists had not agreed to it, effectively killing the bill. The commerce committee instead advanced a different foreclosure bill the night of March 13, SF 1276, that would merely codify existing foreclosure laws.

In previous years Metzen worked to kill legislation pushed by the Minnesota Coalition of a People’s Bailout that would have put a moratorium on home foreclosures.

“There is no excuse for refusing to even hear a modest bill that could stop thousands of Minnesota foreclosures just because the banks it seeks to regulate haven’t signed off on it,” said Nick Espinosa, of Occupy Homes.

#StPaulMN #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #HomeForeclosures #JessicaEnglish #HomeownerBillOfRights

“Houses are for keeping families together, not for tearing communities apart,” said English. “As Wells Fargo turns its back on vacant homes that add blight to the community, one in 45 children is homeless every night. I think it’s time that we start asking why and start providing the answers to do something about it.”

With the full support of the neighbors on the block, Jessica and Occupy Homes fixed up the home, cleaning up broken glass, tearing up carpet stained with human waste, and turning the water back on. A housewarming party attracted 50 neighbors and supporters. Several days later, a march on Wells Fargo Home Mortgage from Jessica’s house drew 200, with 13 people peacefully arrested.

Wells Fargo, however, has repeatedly sent management to change the locks on the property, in flagrant disregard of due process laws. Minnesota law states that only a judge can order the eviction of a resident from a property. On March 8, three Minneapolis police officers attempted to carry out an illegal eviction of the home, telling the four volunteers occupying it they had to leave. The supporters turned the police away, telling them they needed permission from a judge and a warrant to enter the home. The police left, but they could return at any time.

“Homelessness in Hennepin County is at a six-year high. Shelters are overflowing, and it’s been another brutal winter,” said Nick Espinosa, an organizer with Occupy Homes MN. “Our demand to turn the home over to a community group for affordable housing is a common sense solution that makes sense for everyone.”

#MinneapolisMN #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #HomeForeclosures #OccupyHomes #JessicaEnglish

Minneapolis, MN – 13 people were peacefully arrested Feb. 27 as they marched on Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, demanding the bank turn over vacant homes to community control and calling for fairer banking practices.

The march, organized by Occupy Homes MN, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, and allies from faith and labor communities, began at the home of Gayle Lindsey, fighting her foreclosure with Occupy Homes and her neighbors in the Foreclosure and Eviction Free Zone. It proceeded to Jessica English’s reclaimed vacant home, which had been abandoned by Wells Fargo and turned into a drug house. English, a single mom of four experiencing homelessness, has rehabilitated the house with Occupy Homes as a place to raise her children.

“As a homeless mom, it’s sickening to see all the vacant homes Wells Fargo owns that attract crime in Minneapolis,” Jessica told the crowd. “Wells Fargo abandoned this home, letting it turn into a drug house that brought blight on the community. Now the community has come together to welcome my family home and demand that Wells Fargo turn over vacant homes to community control for affordable housing. We are restoring what Wells Fargo destroyed.”

From there, the crowd of 200 took the streets and marched through the gates of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, where they were met by a heavy police presence. They brought 20 bags of trash cleaned up from their neglected vacant home, demanding Wells Fargo clean up their own mess.

The crowd then continued to the 26th Street bridge over I-35W, where internationally renowned hip-hop artist Brother Ali performed from the back of a pickup truck. After about 20 minutes, police moved in to ask the crowd to disperse. 13 people sat in the middle of the road linking arms in an act of civil disobedience, and were arrested.

“Today was living proof that the housing justice movement is alive and well. It's inspiring to see people from so many communities – Somali families trying to send money home, security guards on strike, college students, neighbors reclaiming their neighborhood from crime and blight, even Wells Fargo employees – all coming together to stand for a change to Wells Fargo’s practices,” said Anthony Newby, executive director of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change.

#MinneapolisMN #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #affordableHousing #HomeForeclosures

Trenton, NJ – In March, the Coalition to Save Our Homes asked New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa for a meeting. Many of our members have been harmed by predatory lending. We want Chiesa to hear their complaints. His office can do many things to help them. He said no.

On April 11 we went to Trenton to protest his refusal and demand that our requests be met. We hear of “liberty and justice for all.” It would be good to have it. But there is no equal protection of the laws when predatory lenders get bailouts and the people they harmed can’t even get a hearing. We won’t accept that.

We started the protest with a rally in front of the New Jersey Statehouse, where the governor’s office is located. There were 45 participants. It was a big crowd because it did big things. We gave center stage to the voices of people who have been harmed by predatory lending.

They spoke for all of the millions of borrowers who were swindled. They paid far more than their houses were worth. Some have been foreclosed. Some have lost their jobs. Payment records have been lost, ownership records have been lost. Many mortgages are underwater. Many have lost jobs and income because the banks drove the economy into depression.

Home prices have reached a nationwide average of more than twice true market value. It was price fixing. Lenders lied to prospective borrowers about things in the fine print. They roped buyers into mortgages they knew would fail. They selectively abused African-American and Latino home buyers with higher fees than those paid by economically comparable white buyers, and extended them more subprime loans.

All of these things are illegal. Nothing effective has been done for the millions and millions of people who were harmed.

We want the attorney general to do something about it. We want predatory lenders to be prosecuted for price fixing. They must be compelled to lower mortgage principals to reflect the true market value of the properties. There are many other things for which they could be prosecuted.

People came from all over New Jersey. They represented many organizations. Other concerns of people’s economic justice were addressed. One speaker talked about the impact of cuts in public services on low-income women and children. Another spoke about Irvington, which lost its hospital a couple of years ago and is now planned to get a medical waste disposal plant that the community does not want.

Then we marched through the streets with stops at branch offices of Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The Solidarity Singers gave us a song at each stop. Speakers got on the bullhorn to tell passersby what the banks had done to them. Too many people are passive at their mistreatment by the banks! Passersby showed their support. Drivers honked their horns. Then we marched to the Hughes Justice Complex, where the attorney general’s office is located. We chanted, “A.G. Chiesa, do your job!”

The attorney general’s office had been notified in writing that we were coming to give him a letter. The statement was read aloud to the assembly at the Justice Complex. At no time was there any obstruction of normal activity.

We were met by an officer of the State Police. He was courteous but he told us we could not enter the building, which is public. He said he would take our letter to the attorney general and deliver it, but we had to disperse. He said we could not be present as a group because we did not have a permit to be there!

We said we wanted to enter the building and turn our letter in to the reception desk of the attorney general’s office. A delegation of three went in. A second State Police officer told us at the sign-in desk that we would not be allowed to go to the office. Our attorney was with us. He told the officer that he had many times been to the attorney general’s office to do the same thing. All we wanted to do was deliver a letter to reception. The officer said we could not go to the office. We had to turn in our documents through him. We gave him the letter and a petition with well over a thousand signatures, but said it was a violation of free speech.

We went back outside. The day’s protest was over. The Solidarity Singers fell in, and started singing. People were singing along, hanging out, waiting for the bus. We had accomplished great things. Everybody was happy.

Then the police told us again we could not be there because, “You don’t have a permit.”

“To wait for the bus?!”

“You can’t hold signs.”

“But that’s silly.”

“If you don’t put away the signs and disperse I will have to call for more officers.”

We collected the signs. The problem was clear: the powerful officials who hold so much responsibility are afraid of us because we want to be protected by law from the banks. The bus arrived after a few minutes and we went home.

It had been a good day’s work. We want the attorney general to prosecute predatory lenders. We want equal protection of the laws. We want reinstatement of the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. We will keep it up.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ejw7jA3ZCEE

#TrentonNJ #Foreclosures #WellsFargo #HousingStruggles #AfricanLiberation #BankOfAmerica

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 union activists, as well as OccupyMN participants and others, rallied outside the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center on Nov. 8 to protest a speech by Wells Fargo CEO Jon Stumpf.

Stumpf got paid $17.56 million in 2010 in the midst of an ongoing economic crisis that the banks largely caused. The Nov. 3 New York Times reported, “The company that recorded the biggest reduction in taxes was Wells Fargo Bank...The banking company reported a total of $49 billion in profits in 2008 through 2010, yet received a tax benefit of $651 million.”

Several people inside Stumpf’s speech also disrupted his talk using a ‘mic check,’ where one person speaks then others repeat the words in a call and response so that everyone can hear it.

Police escorted the protesters out of the talk. When Stumpf left the building at the end of his speech to get into his limo, he was confronted by protesters yelling, “Hey John – when are you going to stop foreclosing on our families?”

“Many in our community and our country rightfully believe that Wells Fargo and the other powerful, dominant banks have done much harm to our economy and our future and the future of our children. We suffer under staggering debt while the real wages of working families have been stagnant for a generation,” said Carol Neiters, Executive Director of SEIU Local 284, the union that initiated the protest of Stumpf's speech.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, the University of Minnesota clerical workers union, participated in the rally outside. She said, “When a CEO of a major bank that’s making over $17 million a year speaks on campus during an economic crisis, we have to let it be known that the lowest paid workers here are being attacked with wage freezes, layoffs and mounting debt. We’ve had enough of this inequality!”

Participants in the rally said that they and other community groups attempted to schedule a meeting with Wells Fargo executives but were rebuffed. They want to discuss proposals for the bank to adopt policies that lower interest rates on student loans, underwrite interest and fee-free K-12 public education borrowing, stop home foreclosures and renegotiate underwater mortgages.

#MinneapolisMN #Labor #SEIU #WellsFargo #PeoplesStruggles #AFSCMELocal3800 #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyMN #JonStumpf #SEIULocal284

Minneapolis, MN – Students from colleges and universities across the Twin Cities gathered for the second week in a row, Oct. 19, at the Occupy MN space in downtown Minneapolis.

Over 200 students gathered and took to the streets, marching on Wells Fargo, where they demanded financial institutions forgive student loans. Speakers focused on the struggle of recent graduates to find jobs and pay back crippling student loans. Recent University of Minnesota graduate and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organizer Stephanie Taylor spoke to the crowd about the loans she accumulated. She explained, “Student loans are one of the biggest costs anyone takes on in their lives, and most people spend years, if not their lives paying it back.”

Chanting “Education is a right, now is the time to fight!” and “They want our dough, we say hell no!” the students marched to the massive gold color Wells Fargo tower in central downtown and gathered, stopping traffic throughout the downtown grid.

A call has gone out for students to attend the Friday, Nov. 4 unity rally for another march. Students are encouraged to spend time at Occupy MN. The SDS chapter at the University of Minnesota will be holding its weekly meeting on Oct. 27, where it invites all area students to participate in planning for future student actions on local school campuses. For more info go to http://umnsds.wordpress.com.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #WellsFargo #OccupyMN #OccupyWallStreet #studentDebt

Winston-Salem, NC – Over 100 Occupy Winston-Salem activists protested Oct. 22 in front of the local Wells Fargo branch to expose the bank’s racist policies against African-American and Latino communities.

Wells Fargo Bank’s discrimination in lending was the issue of the day. Protesters highlighted the fact that over 37% of all Wells Fargo loans to African Americans are high-cost loans, compared to only 12% to white borrowers. The inequality is due to the banks’ racist predatory lending practices during the boom years. With the bust in the housing market and steady and rising unemployment, many people are losing their savings and then their houses are foreclosed on. Overall, African-Americans are being punished worse by the economic crisis than others. Latinos are suffering too, especially the undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

Activists exposed another ugly side of Wells Fargo profit making and their repressive role in American society. According to Andrew Hobbs, one of the leading coordinators for Occupy Winston-Salem, “Wells Fargo mutual funds provide millions of dollars in funding to the Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group, which are two of the largest corporations running for-profit immigrant detention centers.” The abuses of immigrants at U.S. detention centers are well documented – including physical and abuse of children, illegal strip searches, rapes of women and people dying due to lack of basic medical attention.

Students from Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) called for putting education before profit and shined a light on Wells Fargo’s hand in the ongoing financial crisis. Janae Williams, who led the students from WSSU stated, “Behind the protests, we’re trying to reach to the 99% who are being disenfranchised by this 1% that owns a majority of the wealth. I feel that, as young Black college students for the most part, we are most affected and we are also disproportionately uninformed about the surrounding issues. So next week we plan on coordinating a meeting on Friday and include all the colleges of Forsyth County to try and reach representation and support for the Occupy Movement.”

The collective spirit was high as all the activists chanted, “We are the 99%,” and “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” One activist, armed with an acoustic guitar, gathered everyone to sing historic protest anthems, such as John Lennon’s Imagine, Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land, and the famous African American Civil Rights song We Shall Overcome.

After the demonstration, the group held a General Assembly to go over what is next for Occupy Winston-Salem. A consensus was reached for a solidarity march with Occupy Charlotte and other groups on Nov. 5.

#WinstonSalemNC #WellsFargo #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyWinstonSalem #WinstonSalemStateUniversity

Raleigh, NC – Over 1000 people gathered on the State Capitol grounds today, Oct. 15, as part of the [Occupy Raleigh demonstration](http://www.occupyraleigh.org). The rally lasted four hours, as speaker after speaker stood to denounce the budget cuts and austerity measures being forced upon working people of North Carolina.

At 1:00 p.m., 500 people left the State Capitol to march through downtown Raleigh. As protesters passed Bank of America, a roar rose up through crowd as hundreds chanted in unison, “The banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” and “Hey hey, ho ho! Bank of America has got to go!” Passers-by waved and signaled support to protesters as they chanted, “We are the 99%!” and “How to fix the deficit? End the wars and tax the rich!” The marchers went past Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other banks and corporations before returning the main rally at the State Capitol.

Citing deregulation of corporations, union-busting and political corruption, Sarah Appel, a teacher at Duke University, said she was motivated to attend the protest to be part of a movement waking up to organize for change in the face of “the complete bankruptcy of the bi-partisan political system.”

Seth Keel, a youth organizer with NC HEAT (Heroes Emerging Among Teens), told the hundreds assembled at the State Capitol, “We are the 99%, but the 1% owns us all and it's time to break down that system.” Keel emphasized, “The youth are here, and our futures are at stake.”

As people cheered, Keel continued, “This system is buying out students’ futures. Our tuition is going up and up as the corporate-bought politicians cut budgets, lay off teachers and cut teachers' salaries. Resources are taken out of classroom and students are falling behind because of these budget cuts. The Koch brothers and Art Pope continue to use their monetary influence to put people in office who want to privatize our education.”

Another march left the Capitol grounds at 2:30 p.m. and gathered support from passers-by in downtown Raleigh. As the permit for the protest expired, a general assembly of 300 people convened on the capitol grounds and protesters discussed next steps for the movement. Dozens of Raleigh police and State Capitol police encircled the assembly, watching and listening.

By nightfall, about 70 people had remained. 20 people had decided to defend their rights to assembly and speech and refuse to leave the capitol grounds. Raleigh police moved in to arrest these 20 at 7:00 p.m.

*Fight Back!* spoke with Eddy Samara, one of the people arrested at Occupy Raleigh, shortly after Samara posted bail. Samara said, “We'll be back. I felt strongly enough to stay because we have to stand in solidarity with all of the peoples' movements – from Wall Street to Madrid to right here in Raleigh. We have to assert our right to assemble and put forward a people's agenda instead of a 1% agenda.”

Occupy Raleigh organizers plan to convene the next general assembly at noon on Sunday, Oct. 16. All who participated in the day's protests were inspired to continue fighting for justice and solidarity against the economic and political policies of the richest 1%.

*Read more [Fight Back! coverage of Occupy Wall street](http://www.fightbacknews.org/news/special-coverage/occupy-wall-street) and follow [@fightbacknews](https://twitter.com/#!/fightbacknews) for live updates from #OccupyWallStreet protests around the country.*

#RaleighNC #WellsFargo #BankOfAmerica #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyRaleigh #NCHEAT

Wells Fargo wants to rescind the line of credit to the 60-year old family-owned company. Since Wells Fargo is the company's primary creditor, this will clear the way for the bank to liquidate Quad City Die Casting's assets, kicking 100 unionized workers out on the street. This is despite the fact that Wells Fargo got $25 billion from taxpayers last fall, supposedly to keep viable companies such as Quad City Die Casting afloat in the current down economy.

Said protester Pat Catolico, “Wells Fargo is behaving terribly to working people in this country, and I'm glad to be here to inform folks about it.” The reaction from passersby from all kinds of walks of life was overwhelmingly positive and lots of fruitful discussions took place. Even several bank workers made a point to come down and greet the protesters and tell them they were right to call out Wells Fargo for its hypocrisy and greed in the matter.

Protests have erupted across the country condemning the bank's double dealing with the Quad City workers. Earlier, Wells Fargo sought to do the same thing with the nearly 4000 workers of the Hartmarx company in Des Plaines Illinois, before backing down in the face of withering criticism from that company's workers and their supporters.

Wells Fargo has come under intense criticism lately from various quarters. It is being sued by the city of Baltimore for its predatory lending practices to minority communities, which is one of the central causes of the current recession. In California, there have been protests in the Chicano community against the bank for its ties to the GEO group, which runs private prisons and detention facilities for immigrants. Wells Fargo is also complicating California's budget crisis by refusing to honor the IOU's the state is issuing to its contractors.

#SanFranciscoCA #QuadCityDieCasting #WellsFargo

Minneapolis, MN - “Stop foreclosures and evictions” was the rallying call here August 15, as more that 100 protesters marched on Wells Fargo bank.

The protest, initiated by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, called on banks and mortgage companies to stop foreclosures and the displacement of homeowners and to stop evicting tenants from rental properties that have been foreclosed.

The march passed the home of Rosemary Williams, the south Minneapolis homeowner fighting to stop her foreclosure and eviction. Williams addressed protesters from her porch.

Steff York of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout said, “The outpouring of support for Rosemary Williams in recent days shows that people want action taken against the continued foreclosures and destruction of our communities.”

“Rosemary’s struggle is a fight to defend the interests of millions of working people and low-income people who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. We march to demand that the banks and mortgage companies stop the foreclosures and evictions,” said Linden Gawboy of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout.

A statement issued by organizers explains, “The economic crisis is not the fault of working and low-income people. Banks and mortgage companies sold mortgages with escalating interest rates and penalties that were doomed to fail. Increasing layoffs and the economic crisis will lead to more people falling behind on mortgage payments. Working people and low-income people need a bailout.”

The statement demands that banks and mortgage companies honor the leases of tenants in foreclosed rental properties. “Tenants by the hundreds and thousands have lost their homes in the last few years, as landlords lose their properties. Lenders who foreclose on landlords put tenants out on the streets. This must stop.”

#MinneapolisMN #News #Foreclosures #WellsFargo #RosemaryWilliams #HousingStruggles #Evictions

Rock Island, IL – “Wells Fargo, shame on you!” chanted the crowd of over 125 as eleven brave protesters blocked the road outside Wells Fargo here, July 9.

Protesters arrived with UE Local 1174 to deliver the message that Wells Fargo bank, a $25-billion bailout recipient, has become a roadblock to recovery after cutting off credit to Quad City Die Casting, a factory of 100 workers.

Lorey Butler, a machine operator at Quad City Die Casting, was one of the eleven road-blockers, all of whom were arrested and charged for their act of civil disobedience. Upon returning from arrest, Butler said, “I'm glad I did this. We're not gonna give up what we deserve.”

People from around the Midwest came to the scene to show solidarity with the UE Local 1174 workers, including members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout,  Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society and Chicago trade unionists.

#MolineIL #CapitalismAndEconomy #News #QuadCityDieCasting #WellsFargo