Hillary Clinton calls President Obama’s immigration reform policy too harsh, says she wouldn’t break up families [WATCH]

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton treads lightly when critiquing President Obama's immigration reform policies, often saying she plans to expand on his executive orders granting undocumented immigrants U.S. citizenship.

In speaking with Telemundo's Maria Celesta Arraras last Friday, Clinton uncharacteristically scolded the president's record on deportations and said his methods of improving the current immigration system are too harsh.

"The deportation laws were interpreted and enforced very aggressively during the last six and a half years, which I think his administration did in part to try to get Republicans to support comprehensive immigration reform," Clinton said in an interview that aired Monday. "It was part of a strategy. I think that strategy is no longer workable."

The Democratic front-runner added that undocumented immigrants shouldn't be deported for minor offenses as the have under the Obama administration. She said "haul in and deport" measures wouldn't happen under a Clinton presidency.

"I'm not going to be breaking up families," said Clinton. "And I think that is one of the differences."

Obama initially ran on a platform of immigration reform ideals aimed at offering a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Deportation numbers, however, climbed during his first four years in office, eventually hitting a record 438,421 deportations in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Part of president's reasoning was in hoping to convince Republican lawmakers to meet him halfway.

The House of Representatives curved any attempts at amnesty and often said the president overstepped boundaries in enforcing executive orders, like his permanent resident programs - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) - that are currently stalled in federal courts.

While Clinton has promised to go further than Obama on immigration since announcing her strategy last May, this was one of few times she blatantly chided the president's efforts.

"I totally understand why the Obama administration felt as though they did what they did under the circumstances. But I think we've learned that the Republicans, at least the current crop, are just not acting in good faith," Clinton said.

Watch the full Telemundo interview below.