CPP leads with US$1.6 billion exposure to ICE-linked firms
Canadian pension and banking giants have funnelled roughly US$35bn into companies contracted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), exposing major institutional investors to fresh ethical and reputational risk.
Stand.earth analysed US Securities and Exchange Commission filings and data from financial firm LSEG, as cited by Benefits and Pension Monitor.
It found that Canadian pensions and the country’s largest banks have backed multiple ICE contractors through equity, loans and bonds worth about US$35bn.
BNN Bloomberg reports that public pensions account for more than US$2.5bn of that exposure, while Canadian banks have supplied over US$23bn in financing via loans and bonds since 2020 and invested at least US$9.8bn in ICE-linked firms.
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) stands out as the largest Canadian pension investor, with an estimated US$1.6bn in companies holding major ICE contracts, a level similar to that of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Other major plans named in the Stand.earth report include a who’s who of Canada’s largest investors, according to Benefits and Pension Monitor. These include:
- la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
- British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
- Public Sector Pension Investment Board
- Investment Management Corporation of Ontario
- Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan
- Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System
- Alberta Investment Management Corp
- Vestcor Inc.
On the banking side, BNN Bloomberg reports that TD, RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC and BMO have together arranged more than US$23bn in loans and bond financing for ICE contractors since 2020, while those banks, along with Desjardins, have invested at least US$9.8bn in the same companies.
The recipient firms span defence, technology and detention operations.
According to Benefits and Pension Monitor, they include General Dynamics and L3Harris, analytics firm Palantir, IT services provider CACI, telecom giant AT&T and private detention operators CoreCivic and Geo Group.
BNN Bloomberg notes that Palantir, founded by Republican donor Peter Thiel, supplies ICE with technology that helps track individuals for detention and deportation, while CoreCivic and Geo Group construct and manage detention centres.
Stand.earth finance director Richard Brooks said the size of CPP’s exposure was the investigation’s most striking finding.
He told The Canadian Press he was shocked that CPP is investing at a level comparable to the largest US pension fund in these companies.
He said Canadians need to know their savings are “not agnostic money,” but are being used to “attempt to profit from the violence that is happening in the United States right now.”
Brooks argued that Canadians expect their capital to build long-term security rather than finance controversial enforcement activities.
According to Benefits and Pension Monitor, he said Canadians believe their pension and bank savings should support “a secure future,” not border surveillance or the separation of children from their parents in detention facilities.
He told BNN Bloomberg that Canadians should be alarmed their savings and pensions are helping fund “US President Donald Trump’s violent immigration crackdown and mass deportation campaign,” and he pressed Parliament to hold hearings.
The findings have triggered political pushback focused on governance and ESG oversight.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan called the report “deeply troubling” and said it highlights a need for “greater transparency and accountability” and a “reassessment” of the ethical frameworks guiding public pensions and financial institutions, as reported by Benefits and Pension Monitor.
Newly elected NDP Leader Avi Lewis went further, telling reporters that Canadian businesses and public pensions should not support what he called “Trump`s personal military arm,” and stating, “We certainly don’t think Canadian pension funds should be investing in the infrastructure of repression in the United States,” BNN Bloomberg reports.
ICE itself has faced sustained criticism and litigation over its enforcement practices.
Benefits and Pension Monitor reports that the agency faces allegations of civil rights violations during large-scale immigration roundups.
The outlet also points to cases where federal agents fatally shot two US citizens in Minnesota during an enforcement operation and to dozens of deaths in ICE custody since January 2025, including that of a Canadian.
Benefits and Pension Monitor also notes that most of the ICE contracts linked to Canadian capital have been issued since 2025 through ICE or its parent department, Homeland Security.
Policy-makers in Ottawa, however, have signalled they will not intervene in specific investment decisions.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne cited by Benefits and Pension Monitor said that Canadian pension funds “are governed and managed independently” and operate “at arm’s length from federal and provincial governments.”
The spokesperson said their investment strategies “are theirs to own,” and are guided by independent, professional boards that oversee risk management and investment policies.
The spokesperson added that questions about individual investment transactions should be directed to the institutions themselves and said the federal government is currently “seized with creating an attractive domestic investment profile” and bringing in more private investment.
Some Canadian pension funds and banks declined to comment on the Stand.earth findings, and the Canadian Bankers Association said it would not comment on individual member decisions, according to BNN Bloomberg.
Brooks told BNN Bloomberg that the government’s response suggests it wants to “pass the buck.”
The investigation also points out that Ottawa has its own commercial ties to some ICE-linked contractors.
BNN Bloomberg reports, citing The Logic and parliamentary documents, that Ottawa-based JSI, a provider of wiretapping tools to ICE, is getting $1m in federal funding to commercialize AI products for law enforcement and security agencies.
National Defence also awarded Palantir’s Canadian subsidiary a $14.4m software contract in 2020.
Many Canadians were also “scandalized” to learn that Brampton-based manufacturer Roshel sold armoured vehicles to ICE.
