There are big changes in the way the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is dealing with both foreign-born inmates and federal immigration officials, and the new policies are welcome and needed.

Among them: No more phone calls from the sheriff's office to federal immigration officials, tipping them off to foreign-born inmates due for release. No more office space for Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) officials at the jail. No more routine perusal by ICE of booking sheets, looking for immigrants. Inmates will be informed of their rights — and they do have some — in their own language, where they need it, right by the telephones.

Sheriff David Hutchinson campaigned in part on changing the treatment of immigrants in jail facilities. His purpose is simple: rebuilding trust to produce safer communities.

"No one is getting a free pass here," he told an editorial writer. "I really want to push that point home. They will be charged like anyone else for the crimes committed. But I do want inmates treated the same." That means an inmate whose local issues are resolved is then released, and without a courtesy call to immigration notifying them that the inmate is available to be picked up.

Chief Deputy Tracey Martin, who has helped implement the changes, said that under former Sheriff Rich Stanek, "ICE would say when this person has local charges resolved, we want to be notified of their release." Often, release from jail meant immediate pickup by immigration. Under Hutchinson, she said, "that is no longer being done." If the immigrants stated they were foreign-born, she said, the sheriff's office would arrange a call between the inmate and ICE. Those phone calls are no longer being made.

A number of law enforcement agencies over the years have expressed reluctance — and in some cases refused — to become, in essence, force multipliers for federal immigration officials. In part that's because it can make their primary job harder.

Trust in immigrant communities vanishes if newcomers think any chance encounter with local law enforcement might result in deportation. They avoid contact, which could mean losing an eyewitness to a crime, forgoing valuable information that might have come from the community.

Even victims become reluctant to report crimes against them. A recent study by Harvard University researchers showed that communities where local law enforcement worked in tandem with immigration had underreported crimes compared with other communities.

Hutchinson noted that 7% of the county's population is Latino. "It's important for them to feel comfortable coming to police, reporting to police," he said. "When I was on working a beat, they were scared of police. That makes everyone less safe."

All of that must be weighed against illegal entry — a misdemeanor. And those who overstay valid work or travel visas may be committing civil violations and end up in immigration courts.

Ultimately, Hutchinson said of the county's new policies, "this is about public safety. It's not a political decision," noting that other major jurisdictions have made similar decisions. "I'd say we're fairly typical in the way we're handling this," he said. "Our resources are already stretched so thin. We have a lot going on here."

The reception he's gotten to the changes so far has been positive. "People are realizing that we're all safer when our neighbors are safe, when immigrants are treated fairly," he said. "If they break laws in Hennepin County, they will be held accountable, just like anyone."