Biden staffer Andrew Bates, Trump staffer Tim Murtaugh spar over child death

A former Biden administration official’s social media post lamenting the death of a young child in government custody amid increased immigration operations in Minnesota drew backlash from Republicans, who seized on the fact that the death occurred during the Biden administration. 

Andrew Bates, who previously served as the senior deputy press secretary for former President Joe Biden, on Tuesday retweeted a post from the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats about Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, an 8-year-old who suffered from sickle cell anemia and a heart condition and died in Border Patrol custody in 2023.

Bates wrote alongside the reposted content, “Not about Democrat or Republican/left or right. Just absolutely wrong.” 

Bates’ post, and the original Senate Judiciary Committee post, prompted comments from conservatives pointing out that Alvarez died in 2023, during President Joe Biden’s administration. 

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“What’s remarkable, Andrew, is the level of pride you must have felt when posting this, completely unaware that it had happened while you worked in the White House yourself,” Tim Murtaugh, who was President Donald Trump’s campaign communications director in 2020, said in response to Bates. “Just remarkable. Top notch work from beginning to end.”

Greg Price, Trump White House rapid response manager for the first half of 2025 wrote, “Andy, remind who was in charge of the country in 2023?”

“I stand by what I said. It’s horrible and shouldn’t have happened,” Bates wrote in the post’s replies. “What makes me proud is that the American people are rejecting the cruelty that ICE is forcing on Americans and immigrants, putting all of us in danger. I’d hope we could agree on that.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Bates for comment. 

The series of social media posts between the White House veterans come amid heightened scrutiny of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minneapolis as part of Operation Metro Surge, an immigration operation that kicked off in December 2025 and dispatched thousands of ICE agents to the city. 

The agency recently seized 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, an Ecuadorian national whom federal officials say is in the U.S. illegally.

The two are being held at a Texas immigration detention facility. 

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The interaction between Bates and Murtaugh also comes as ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CPB) have faced increased scrutiny following the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota. 

On Saturday, two CBP agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, while he was recording federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. The agents who fired their weapons at Pretti have been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the agency’s procedures, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Pretti’s death came weeks after an agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37.

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The Department of Homeland Security has described both shootings as acts of “self-defense.” Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche confirmed Friday in a press conference that the Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s death. 

Meanwhile, a majority of voters believe that ICE’s immigration tactics are going too far. A new Fox News poll found that 59% of voters believe the agency’s immigration efforts are “too aggressive,” up from the 49% who said so in July 2025. 

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.