President Barack Obama revealed he was "frustrated" with the lack of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress and referred to his executive actions as "a first step" to future efforts.

According to Obama, his immigration executive actions from November "in some ways, [were] just a first step in what I hope will be a continuing effort going forward." Obama admitted he can "always do better" in regards to his performance as president and relationship with Congress.

Obama acknowledged congressional lawmakers who have fundamental differences on immigration from him, notably Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

"If your view is that immigrants are either fundamentally bad to the country or that we actually have the option of deporting 11 million immigrants, regardless of the disruptions, regardless of the cost, and that that is who we are as Americans, I reject that," said Obama.

The president said he believes many Republican lawmakers want to fix the broken immigration system in addition to strengthening border security and streamlining the legal immigration system.

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"But that we have to show realism, practicality and insist on accountability from those who are here illegally and that the best way to do that is to provide them a path to get legal -- paying a fine, submitting to background checks and so forth," Obama said.

Obama recognized the U.S. Senate's bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation of June 2013. The bill, which passed the Senate, has yet to be picked up for debate in the House of Representatives. According to Obama, the Senate immigration bill "in many ways was more generous" than his executive actions.

Obama said the situation at the border already includes more resources, police and financial funding than any time in the last three to four decades. He also claimed the influx of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. is "about half" and lower than any time since the 1970s.

"You have to describe specifically what are the concerns that you've got," said Obama about immigration reform opponents. "If you're concerned that somehow illegal immigrants are a drain on resources and forcing, you know, Americans to pay for services for these folks, well, every study shows that's just not the case. Generally, these folks don't use a lot of services, and my executive action specifically is crafted so that they're not a drain on taxpayers; instead, they're going to be paying taxes, and we can make sure that they are."

Obama said the Republican Party has an opportunity to "broaden its coalition" by creating immigration reform.

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