Veterans convoy heads across Arizona, drawing attention to shutdown issues

Dozens of Arizona veterans are set to mark Veteran’s Day with a weekend bus and car convoy calling attention to impacts of the government shutdown.

The event is called the People’s Deployment, and includes stops at the VA Medical Center in Tucson on Saturday, the Veteran’s Memorial Park in Sierra Vista on Sunday and finally the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Monday morning.

Ricardo Reyes is the executive director of VetsForward, one of the groups behind the event.

He says when he was a junior Marine, his family relied on food stamps and WIC — the federal program providing food to women and children. Those are under threat now, and Reyes says he sees people being critical of others who use them.

“To them, the people that are being affected are, you know, just like these lazy people that are taking advantage and aren’t willing to work. Well, like I said, a lot of those people that are being affected are active-duty military members that they claim to love,” Reyes said.

The groups estimate 31,000 veterans in Arizona use SNAP, or food stamps. The benefit is currently the subject of a legal battle between a coalition of states, including Arizona, and the Trump administration.

Beatriz Topete is the Arizona organizing director of a union called Unite Here Local 11 that represents hospitality workers in southern California and Arizona and is also part of the veterans convoy.

She says after getting out of the U.S. Army in the 1980s, she was told to get a job as a federal worker.

“Another way of serving, right? Just without a uniform. However, it feels like another broken promise,” she said.

Topete says one in every three veterans in Arizona work for the federal government and the layoffs initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, earlier this year have disproportionally impacted them.

State Rep. Aaron Marquez and U.S. Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva are both set to join the People’s Deployment alongside organizers.

Reyes says the event is also expected to address issues like veterans who have been deported, and Afghan nationals who worked alongside U.S. troops and are now in legal limbo in the U.S.