Laura Berlin, a Texas mother of two, has found herself at the center of a national controversy after creating an interactive Google Map titled, “Who is Profiting from ICE?” The project, which utilizes her background in nonprofit communications, identifies various contractors nationwide that partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to support the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The initiative began in April 2025 when Berlin sought to understand the corporate entities behind detention centers and the chartered airliners used to transport individuals to foreign prisons. “That situation really haunted me,” she explained, noting her desire to identify the specific companies involved in the process. Her research led her to examine corporate filings, where she identified GEO Group and CoreCivic as major contractors that received nearly $1 billion in combined awards during the first year of the administration’s crackdown.
Berlin’s investigation also highlighted the role of financial institutions, specifically Citizens Bank, a Rhode Island-based lender with over 1,000 East Coast branches. After she published her findings on boycottcitizens.org, the information gained traction among activists. A group known as De-ICE organized a series of protests, which saw traffic to Berlin’s website surge from a few thousand visits to nearly 10 million hits.
The protest movement intensified following two high-profile incidents. On January 7, 2026, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. Shortly after, on January 24, Border Patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti. These events fueled further public outrage, leading to approximately 140 planned protests across 17 states by June. Organizers employed various tactics, including purchasing billboards and attending the bank’s annual board meeting to pressure the institution.
The strategy proved effective. In June, Jersey City officials announced they would withdraw more than $350 million from Citizens Bank due to its ties to detention contractors. Shortly thereafter, the bank announced it would cease its relationship with GEO Group and CoreCivic, characterizing the move as a business decision rather than a response to activist pressure. Meanwhile, CoreCivic sold two California facilities back to the Department of Homeland Security, freeing up over $1.5 billion.
Despite the peaceful nature of the protests, the federal government has taken a different view of Berlin’s work. A secret intelligence bulletin obtained from the Department of Homeland Security labels the website a tool for domestic terrorism. The document warns that “anti-ICE threat actors, including local anarchist extremists,” might escalate peaceful actions into more dangerous activities. The bulletin, which was distributed to local and federal law enforcement, uses the same alert code typically reserved for domestic terror threats.
Berlin expressed shock at the classification, stating, “At first, my stomach dropped. But then I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.” She maintains that her database is a transparent tool using publicly available government records and is protected under the First Amendment. The bulletin itself acknowledges in red text that some of the information described constitutes protected activity.
Critics of the government’s stance, including Ryan Shapiro, executive director of the Property of the People, argue that the DHS is mischaracterizing dissent as extremism. “This has nothing to do with public safety,” Shapiro said. “It’s about deploying law enforcement as a taxpayer-funded security force for private industry.” Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, added that the industry is actively seeking to leverage political connections to extract maximum profit from taxpayer funds.
A spokesperson for the DHS did not comment on the specific bulletin but noted that information from local partners helps sharpen their awareness. A representative for the Philadelphia Police Department, which forwarded the information to the DHS, stated that such bulletins are compiled to assist in public safety. Despite the federal scrutiny, Berlin remains undeterred, emphasizing that she is motivated by a desire to create a better future for her children. “It’s troubling that DHS would portray a tool meant to make public records more accessible as potentially threatening,” she said. The report also notes that laura Berlin watched images of immigration agents rounding up people and flying them to a Latin American prison without due process – and she knew she had to do something. The report also notes that what companies were taking money from the government to help deport people, who owned these detention centers where men were being held along the way?” In short. The report also notes that it’s the latest example of the Trump administration cracking down on dissent it says could veer into political violence. The report also notes that “The egregious, dehumanizing rhetoric the administration and its allies have relied on to manufacture support for cruel and ill-advised policies was always going to ripple out and hurt people, including kids, in all kinds of ways,” Berlin said. The report also notes that two big names immediately caught her attention, when Berlin began her research in April 2025. The report also notes that beds to house them, and ankle monitors to surveil those out on bond awaiting their hearings, the two companies provide staff for detention centers. The report also notes that so she wondered – who is still lending to these companies, berlin went down the research rabbit hole and discovered that Wells Fargo and Bank of America pledged to stop working with the pair.
