On Saturday, January 24, a student-run organization called Abolish ICE Moorestown hosted a protest against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following mass deportations and multiple shootings of individuals, including U.S. citizens, nationwide.
During the protest, a man named Alex Pretti was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis, sparking even more public outrage.
Moorestown High School students Taura White ’26, Alberto Palillero ’27, and Elizabeth ’27 coordinated the event after seeing protests erupt across the country on behalf of Renée Good, a U.S. citizen fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7. Elizabeth requested that her last name be omitted.
While White had initially planned to join a protest, after realizing that there were none scheduled in Moorestown, she worked with her friends Palillero and Elizabeth to organize one herself.
“I saw all of these other states and towns doing these protests, and I was like, ‘Moorestown really needs to get on that. It’s our turn.’ We have a lot to say, [so] I just did it,” White explained.
For Palillero, the movement against ICE is deeply personal after having had his first cousins, who were U.S. citizens, detained and then released by ICE.
“I am Mexican American, so this is targeting my people more. It is scary seeing all the things on the news; people don’t even care if you’re a citizen or not, they just straight up take you right off the streets,” Palillero said.
At the protest, many people gave speeches outside of the Town Hall, including Moorestown Mayor Quinton Law.
According to White, Mayor Law’s speech was “amazing,” and he was “really supportive,” texting the organizers to ask if there was anything he could do to support them.
Mayor Quinton Law delivers a speech outside the Town Hall. Video courtesy of Grace Graefen ’26.
In the caption of his most recent Instagram post about the event, Mayor Law wrote, “We need to live up to our values. In Moorestown, our Quaker values call us toward peace, integrity, community, and equality. Public safety is one of my top priorities, and nothing about masked agents disappearing people without due process makes Moorestown safer.”
Mayor Law worked with the Moorestown Police Department to ensure a safe environment for the protesters, having officers patrol the streets by driving by every few minutes as protestors marched across Moorestown, according to White.
Protestors marching on the sidewalk of Main Street. Video courtesy of Grace Graefen ’26.
Despite the below-freezing temperatures, there was a decent turnout, according to Palillero.
Moorestown Friends School senior Grace Graefen ’26 attended the protest with her mother on Saturday. She found out about the event through Abolish ICE Moorestown’s Instagram account. Graefen recently attended protests for No Kings Day and No Kings Day Part 2, located in Collingswood, organized by Cooper River Indivisible, and was happy to attend a protest directly in her hometown, Moorestown.
“I’ve been going to protests about ICE for a while, but I was really excited that there was one finally in Moorestown. The fact that there were so many events going on, in between the time when it was announced and when the protest was actually happening, just spurred on the interest and my conviction that it needed to go,” said Graefen.
The protest began at 11:00 AM outside the Town Hall, where protestors moved across Main Street, marching and chanting with signs that ranged from clever calls for “ICE [to] go melt [them]selves” to serious denunciations of the current authoritarian regime, according to White and Palillero.
White shared that her sign was a Bible verse. The sign read, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.”
“Jesus wants you to follow laws, but, at the same time, he doesn’t want you mistreating people,” White said.
Regarding the notion of young people feeling hopeless or powerless, Palillero said, “You’re not gonna get results if you do nothing.”
“You’re not gonna get results if you do nothing.” —Alberto Palillero ’27, student from Mooerstown High School
“We really want to mobilize people to go out to these protests, organize something, donate anything,” Palillero continued. “Anything helps move [closer] to what you want to achieve.”
White and Palillero noted how many people came up to them after the event to ask when the next protest would be, to which Palillero responded, “We’ll let you know.”
“We’re young people, we’re in high school, and we’re trying to stand up to all these grown adults [who] are terrorizing people. So I think it’s just really important to know that you have a voice. Anything you say could help in the broader span of things,” said White.
