Ex-Biden aide draws GOP backlash after post on child's death in custody amid mounting ICE scrutiny

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. 

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?"

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. 

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

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. 

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