Torrance County Commissioner Kevin McCall used Wednesday’s commission meeting to address what he called false claims linking his family’s business, McCall’s Pumpkin Patch, to the county’s contract with the Torrance County Detention Facility.
McCall read a statement into the record after commissioners voted to adjust the meeting agenda, saying his family had faced fallout since the Albuquerque Teachers Federation circulated an email to Albuquerque Public Schools staff last week titled “McCall’s Prison Patch?” The email criticized the commission’s September vote to extend the county’s contract to operate the detention center.
“Our business is in no way communicating or working with ICE, which is utterly false,” McCall said. “From its start 28 years ago, our mission has always been to provide a fun, family-friendly place for guests to make cherished memories. We welcome all families.”
McCall, who has served on the commission for seven years, said the vote to extend the contract was based on constituent input and the facility’s role in providing jobs for about 100 people in Torrance County.
“At multiple meetings, we heard from Torrance County residents, and I never heard one objection,” McCall said. “Any objections came from residents of Albuquerque or from out of state.”
The email, sent by Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, cited reporting from Source New Mexico about the commission’s unanimous vote to extend the ICE contract and referenced “various documented human rights violations against detainees” at the facility.
“The jail has been the scene of various documented human rights violations against detainees, but Mr. McCall and the other commissioners excuse that in the name of economic gain for both the county and private interests,” Bernstein wrote, concluding with “Spooky stuff. Beware rotten pumpkins.”
In an interview Tuesday, Bernstein clarified that the email never explicitly called for a boycott but was intended to inform educators about McCall’s role in county decisions. She said teachers regularly take students to the pumpkin patch, but wanted staff to understand the political context.
“We teach kids who are terrified and living with families who are terrified to the extent that they feel unsafe sending their kids to school,” Bernstein said. “We’re not kidding when we say it, our kids are scared.”
County Manager J. Jordan Barela issued a statement Tuesday clarifying that the agenda item addresses “ongoing public communications being made on social media platforms by the Albuquerque Teachers’ Union and other community groups” regarding the commission’s support for the Torrance County Detention Facility through its ICE agreement.
Barela emphasized, “there is no interconnection between the private businesses of individual commissioners and the decision made by the County Commission regarding the ICE agreement.”
The McCall family responded with their own statement, saying social media “turned this into a string of lies” and clarifying that “in no way has ICE been involved in any of this and in no way do the McCalls have any contact with ICE.”
The family said Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach was “outraged” by Bernstein’s email and requested the agenda item for Wednesday’s meeting.
On Wednesday, McCall criticized the union for spreading what he described as misleading information to teachers.
“I have kids in the schools, and I’m concerned with what they’re being taught and the information they’re receiving,” McCall said. “We’re 50th in education in the country, yet the union has the ability to mislead students and create fear.”
Torrance County released a statement prior to the meeting explaining the intent behind the agenda item.
“The determinations made by the County Commission are decisions enacted by a public body and are made by evaluating the comprehensive impact of those decisions on the County and its municipalities,” the statement read. “The County Commission wishes to address the public comments being made regarding this issue, and to reiterate that there is no interconnection between the private businesses of individual commissioners and the decision made by the County Commission regarding the ICE agreement or any other public contract.”
