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For Immediate Release
July, 29 2010, 11:39am EDT
Contact:
Opal Tometi, Puente Movement. 602.349.1073
Marco Loera, NDLON. 626.390.6986
Social Media Plays Integral Role in Growing Anti-SB1070 Movement
Twitter and Facebook users find ways to Engage Movement Online
PHOENIX
The growing movement for migrant rights, and indeed the restoration of democracy and political equality in Arizona, is now viral with the use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a variety of other social media networks. Groups such as the Puente Movement and the National Day Labor Organizing Network have taken to using social media to engage community members, volunteers and alert the press.
The Puente Movement and the National Day Labor Organizing Network are asking that if people want to know the latest information about activities surrounding the growing opposition to SB 1070 they should follow their twitter accounts (@PuenteAZ and @NDLON). Other Twitterers 4 Justicia include: @mrdaveyd @thinkmexican @detentionwatch @newman_chris @theSoundStrike @willcoley @4onelove @opalayo @izofice @kyledeb @trail2010 @BstandsforB @ lafronteratimes.
Opal Tometi, of Arizona's PUENTE movement, recalls how Twitter was used as a dialogue between Phoenix activists and rap superstar, Talib Kweli, who denounced 1070 as the result of communication with his fans on twitter. According to Tometi, "SB 1070 was intended to silence the voices of immigrants and communities of color, but Twitter has served as a vehicle for communication, a space for non-violent resistance, and a platform for liberation."
As the days and months unfold, news and media will continue to break on social networking sites such as Twitter. The two groups have launched the Alto Arizona campaign and have made the Twitter hashtag #AltoArizona viral and have thousands of Facebook Fans. They intend to use this hashtag throughout the day of July 29 th for the various events they have planned. They will also use the hashtag #SB1070 to document the growing conversation around SB 1070's implementation and resistance.
Relevant Links:
www.altoarizona.com
www.twitter.com/puenteaz
www.twitter.com/ndlon
www.youtube.com/puenteaz
www.flickr.com/photos/puenteaz
www.facebook.com/puenteaz
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BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to resume agency mass-firing plans over the dissent of Justice Jackson, who criticized "this Court’s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture." More to come at Law Dork:
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— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson publicly dissented on Tuesday. Another liberal, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, wrote in a short concurrence that "the plans themselves are not before this court, at this stage, and we thus have no occasion to consider whether they can and will be carried out consistent with the constraints of law. I join the court's stay because it leaves the district court free to consider those questions in the first instance."
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She continued:
At bottom, this case is about whether that action amounts to a structural overhaul that usurps Congress' policymaking prerogatives—and it is hard to imagine deciding that question in any meaningful way after those changes have happened. Yet, for some reason, this court sees fit to step in now and release the president's wrecking ball at the outset of this litigation.
In my view, this decision is not only truly unfortunate but also hubristic and senseless. Lower court judges have their fingers on the pulse of what is happening on the ground and are indisputably best positioned to determine the relevant facts—including those that underlie fair assessments of the merits, harms, and equities. I see no basis to conclude that the district court erred—let alone clearly so—in finding that the president is attempting to fundamentally restructure the federal government.
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— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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Between 2020 and 2024, $771 billion in Pentagon contracts went to just five firms: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman. By comparison, the total diplomacy, development, and humanitarian aid budget, excluding military aid, was $356 billion. [5/12]
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— The Costs of War Project (@costsofwar.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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"Additionally, a surge in foreign-funded arms sales to European allies, paid for by the recipient nations—over $170 billion in 2023 and 2024 alone—have provided additional revenue to arms contractors over and above the funds they receive directly from the Pentagon," the paper adds.
The 23-page report stresses that "annual U.S. military spending has grown significantly this century," as presidents from both major parties have waged a so-called Global War on Terror and the DOD has continuously failed to pass an audit.
Specifically, according to the paper, "the Pentagon's discretionary budget—the annual funding approved by Congress and the large majority of its overall budget—rose from $507 billion in 2000 to $843 billion in 2025 (in constant 2025 dollars), a 66% increase. Including military spending outside the Pentagon—primarily nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy, counterterrorism operations at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other military activities officially classified under 'Budget Function 050'— total military spending grew from $531 billion in 2000 to $899 billion in 2025, a 69% increase."
Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this month "adds $156 billion to this year's total, pushing the 2025 military budget to $1.06 trillion," the document notes. "After taking into account this supplemental funding, the U.S. military budget has nearly doubled this century, increasing 99% since 2000."
Noting that "taxpayers are expected to fund a $1 trillion Pentagon budget," Security Policy Reform Institute co-founder Stephen Semler said the paper, which he co-authored, "illustrates what they'll be paying for: a historic redistribution of wealth from the public to private industry.”
Semler produced the report with William Hartung, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute. Hartung said that "high Pentagon budgets are often justified because the funds are 'for the troops.'"
"But as this paper shows, the majority of the department's budget goes to corporations, money that has as much to do with special interest lobbying as it does with any rational defense planning," he continued. "Much of this funding has been wasted on dysfunctional or overpriced weapons systems and extravagant compensation packages."
The arms industry has used an array of tools of influence to create an atmosphere where a Pentagon budget that is $1 trillion per year is deemed “not enough” by some members of Congress. [9/12]
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— The Costs of War Project (@costsofwar.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 2:43 PM
In addition to spotlighting how U.S. military budgets funnel billions of dollars to contractors each year, the report shines a light on the various ways the industry influences politics.
"The ongoing influence of the arms industry over Congress operates through tens of millions in campaign contributions and the employment of 950 lobbyists, as of 2024," the publication explains. "Military contractors also shape military policy and lobby to increase military spending by funding think tanks and serving on government commissions."
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