PAINESVILLE, Ohio--Painesville city police have adopted a policy about when to notify immigration officials about foreigners at odds with the law.

Under the policy, issued this month by Chief Anthony Powalie, police will call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about any foreigner charged with drug offenses or violent crimes, including domestic violence and driving while impaired. Police will also call about any foreigner found to be affiliated with gangs or other criminal groups.

The policy makes it optional to call federal officials about foreigners suspected only of being here illegally. It also offers to help foreigners seeking special visas as crime victims or witnesses.

Powalie said he wants to focus on fighting criminals. "That's a section that just tears apart a society. That's not who anybody wants in here."

Immigration is a touchy topic in Lake County. Many people from Mexico work at local farms and other businesses.

Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, neither the city nor the county have ever been sanctuaries--that is, places whose officials defy immigration law. Painesville even adopted a resolution a few years back declaring itself not to be a sanctuary.

Immigration critics blasted local officials here about a case in July, 2015. Painesville police said they called the U.S. Border Patrol to report an undocumented immigrant named Juan Razo, but the patrol declined to pick him up. Later that month, in Concord Township, Razo killed a woman, wounded another and tried to rape a 14-year-old girl. He is now serving a life sentence.

Tensions over immigration have risen again this year with President Trump's crackdown on violators.

Powalie developed the policy after learning a couple months ago that the Lake County Jail, which takes prisoners from his department and several nearby communities, would not report any of those prisoners to immigration officials but leave it up to each community.

According to Frank Leonbruno, chief deputy Lake County sheriff, the jail only reports prisoners arrested by his agency. It reports anyone here illegally and anyone charged with other crimes here.

Among communities using the county jail, Chief Troy Hager of Perry and Lt. Elizabeth Kirk of the Madison Township police said they have no formal policy. They'd probably report foreigners only for breaking other laws here besides immigration laws. And they'd call U.S. Border Patrol rather than ICE. The patrol covers areas that, like Lake County, lie within 100 miles of the border.

Local officials say they've never seen guidelines from the federal government about when to report. Kristoffer Grogan, a public affairs officer for Customs and Border Proection, says, "It is up to the local law enforcement agency if they wish to contact us."

According to County Prosecutor Charles Coulson, courts have ruled that local law enforcement agencies should hold people for a reasonable time if wanted by immigration officials. Coulson has advised the county jail not to go beyond 48 hours.

The Painesville policy says, "To encourage crime reporting and cooperation in the investigation of criminal activity, all individuals, regardless of their immigration status, must feel secure that contacting or being addressed by members of law enforcement will not automatically lead to immigration inquiry and /or deportation. The Painesville Police Department provides a high level of services to every member of the community regardless of immigration status."

The policy also says that, on request, police may help ICE with "support services, such as traffic control or peacekeeping efforts." But Powalie and other local law officers say they don't go out looking for immigration violators, and the federal government never asks them to.

The policy promises to train officers to carry it out.