US Rep. Ayanna Pressley spoke to a group assembled in First Parish Dorchester’s meeting room on Wed., Aug. 12, 2026. Photos by Cassidy McNeeley
US Rep. Ayanna Pressley visited Dorchester’s First Parish Church this afternoon (Aug. 12) to join with Boston neighborhood activists to call for a end to the war in Iran and to re-direct defense spending to domestic needs she says have been neglected under the Trump administration.
Pressley spoke to a group of roughly 25 people who gathered inside the historic Meeting House Hill church alongside Brian Garvey, the executive director of Massachusetts Peace Action.
Other local leaders on hand included Carolyn Chou, executive director of Homes For All of Massachusetts; Ricardo Henry, co-founder of Hyde Park Food and Wellness Pop-Up; and Carline Desire, executive director at the Association of Haitian Women in Boston (AFAB).
During the event and at a brief press conference, Pressley also called for the protection of TPS holders and immigrant families.
“Your tax dollars are being used to harass, abduct, abuse, and murder law-abiding people, most who have no criminal record and have lived in the United States for decades and contribute to our communities,” Pressley said, referring to her recent visits to federal facilities. “When I visited these detention facilities, these concentration camps, I’ve met people that were kidnapped on their way to church, work, to exercise, to go out shopping. They were roofers, landscapers, delivery drivers, daycare providers, dreamers, undocumented workers, TPS holders from Haiti, Nepal, El Salvador and Venezuela.
“These are our neighbors. The people that we love, the people that we live with, we work, and worship with. The same folks who care for our elders, and are the backbone of our economy,” Pressley said.
Garvey and others called for Congress to halt the Trump administration’s spending increases for military actions, including attacks on Iran. He and Pressley said that the latest Trump budget approved by the Republican-led Congress increased the spending for war-related resources by 42 percent, or roughly $445 billion.
“At a time when people cannot afford their rent, groceries, health care or child care, we are being asked to accept a military budget rising from roughly $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion in a single year and another devastating war,” said Garvey. “Meanwhile, people who work in our hospitals, care for our children and elders, and have become part of the fabric of our communities are being threatened with detention and deportation. We need a fundamental change in priorities—away from war, militarism and repression and toward meeting human needs.”
Pressley echoed his call.
“We must be defiant,” said Pressley. “Donald Trump is a dictator, and history has shown us the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.”
Bahar Shafari, a Massachusetts Peace Action board member, agreed.
“We should instead be spending our money on making sure that our children are fed, that our elderly have healthcare, that everyone has healthcare, that everyone has a roof over their head.”
Desire, of the Dorchester-based AFAB group, said: “For many members of our community, the consequences are no longer theoretical. People are losing jobs, struggling to maintain housing, and living in constant fear. Families who once had a source of stability are now unable to work, pay their rent, buy food, or remain together.”
After listening to her constituents speak, Pressley said: “That’s why I’m here not just as a neighbor, not just as your congresswoman, but just as a human being who gives a damn about other human beings.”
