Summit targets immigration

Stung by criticism of his deportation record, President Barack Obama is focusing his immigration enforcement on illegal immigrants with criminal records, his administration officials told local Hispanics on Friday.

Administration officials also urged locals to contact their congressional representatives about immigration reform, which they said is a priority of Obama's.

Officials from several federal agencies flew into Tampa and met with about a hundred Hispanic business people and activists.

Education, small business issues and health care reform were all topics at the White House Hispanic Community Action Summit, but immigration drew the most discussion.

Some Hispanic leaders have criticized Obama for deporting more people than previous presidents. His administration sent away nearly 400,000 people in fiscal year 2011, a record, and it has deported more than 1 million since he took office.

Esther Olavarria, a counselor to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, on Friday said the president was following direction set by Congress, which appropriates money for immigration enforcement.

Obama has been trying to use that money wisely, targeting people with criminal backgrounds, security threats and those who recently immigrated here illegally, as opposed to people who have been here for years, Olavarria said.

Patricia Plantamura, a Seminole woman who attended Friday's summit, said it's been hard explaining why the Obama administration has deported more people than previous presidents. But she said she appreciated the explanation.

Several in the audience complained of how the United States is so sympathetic to Cuban immigrants, allowing them to stay once they set foot in the United States, but not to other Hispanic groups.

Many also expressed their support for the DREAM Act, an immigration policy that Obama has supported but that hasn't yet cleared Congress. It would allow young immigrants who arrived here illegally to stay if they pursue college or military service.

Some critics say it's wrong to grant illegal immigrants in-state tuition, said Kelly Kirschner, director of Unidos Now, a Sarasota group pushing for immigration reform.

"You really can't afford not to educate them," Kirschner said.