Above: Former Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry speaks in the Great Hall on July 17, 2025. Ella Adams/SHNS photo
The Caribbean community in Massachusetts will stand tall in the midst of "the callousness and the aggression" aimed at them by the federal administration, a former longtime Boston lawmaker told a crowd at the State House on Thursday.
Former Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry spoke to a packed Great Hall at an annual breakfast honoring local Caribbean American leaders and celebrating Caribbean heritage. Massachusetts is home to nearly 200,000 people from the Caribbean, and the state has the second-largest Haitian population in the U.S. behind Florida.
"Our federal government and the direction of this President is devoted to causing injury to our people, our economy, our health care, our institutions of higher learning and our daily life," Forry said.
"Today, we are faced with an onslaught of aggression from Washington that recall those troubled times in the 1850s with men and women who were hunted and pursued in our streets, when our own law enforcement and authorities were pressured to aid and abet the slave catchers in southern states, and when our own citizenry faced the threat of punishment if they disagreed," Forry said.
Forry represented Boston and Milton in the House from 2005 to 2013 and became the first woman and person of color to represent the First Suffolk Senate district in 2013, representing Dorchester, Mattapan, South Boston and Hyde Park.
She left government in 2018 to join the private sector and has served as co-founder of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, which is dedicated to helping Black and Brown non-profits and communities access philanthropic dollars.
Forry also co-publishes the Dorchester Reporter.
"Let's be reminded today that there was a time when the law of the land dictated that it was a crime to aid human beings seeking refuge and freedom in this city," Forry said, recalling the resistance in Boston to the Fugitive Slave Act.
The Department of Homeland Security moved in early July to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S., a humanitarian designation made by the federal government that allows people to legally stay in the U.S. who can't safely return to their own countries due to conditions like war and natural disasters. About 15,000 Haitians are estimated to be TPS holders in Massachusetts, where they've come to flee earthquakes, political turmoil and gang violence.
The Trump administration set a Sept. 2 termination date, after which Haitian nationals who had been granted TPS would no longer be granted that status. "After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Haiti no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation for TPS," the department reported.
A U.S. District Court judge in New York temporarily blocked the administration's moved to end TPS for Haitians shortly after its announcement. According to Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office, the TPS terminations are estimated to impact nearly 260,000 Haitian TPS holders nationwide.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, whose mother was born in Grenada and grew up in Trinidad, said on Thursday that the administration is proud that Massachusetts has "one of the largest Caribbean communities in the country."
"We want to continue to be a state that fights for everyone, meaning everyone can succeed, everyone does succeed, everyone contributes in a powerful and meaningful way," Driscoll said as she stood beside Gov. Maura Healey, before the program recognized local Caribbean leaders and featured Boston Caribbean American Association head Robert Wint.