President Obama told a group of law enforcement leaders Tuesday that Congress has very little time left to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year.

Obama told the group that after August, the attention will be on the November elections, and Congress will be less likely to focus on the passage of immigration reform, Fox News Latino reports.

"The closer we get to midterm elections the harder it will be to get things done," Obama said.

The president is still supporting the bipartisan comprehensive reform bill that was passed in the Senate last June, but he said that he is not "hell-bent" on having every part of the bill included in the legislation. However, he said certain regulations must be included in the bill, such as providing a pathway to citizenship for the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

At the meeting, Obama stressed the benefits of immigration reform to the enforcement officials, saying new regulations will help crack down on employers who exploit undocumented workers.

He said the current state of affairs "makes it harder for our law enforcement agencies to do their job."

"Large segments of the community are afraid to report crimes or serve as witnesses because they fear the consequences for themselves or their families," Obama said. "This system is not fair. It's not fair to workers; it's not fair to businesses who are trying to do the right thing; it's not fair to law enforcement agencies that are already stretched thin."

He told the group to lobby Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Republicans to pass reform prior to the elections.

"We've got maybe a window of two, three months to get the ball rolling in the House of Representatives. And your voices are going to be absolutely critical to that effort," Obama added.

The Senate passed a bipartisan reform bill last year than includes a path to citizenship as well as tightened border security and expanded foreign worker visas. The bill is now stalled in the House, as the Republican majority is mostly against the bill.

Earlier this year, Obama said that he would put forth a reform bill himself if Congress did not pass one, as well as take unilateral measures to address the issue.

The president did take a step by beginning an initiative in 2012 that suspends deportations for two years for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as minors.

However, immigration-rights activists have not been pleased with the president. Obama has overseen about 2 million deportations since he took office.

"The president's remarks on immigration today are more of an indictment of his own policies than of Congress's failure to allow a vote," said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "President Obama's policies, not Republicans in Congress, have led to the Arizonification of the country. It borders on becoming a political crime for President Obama to decry the very status quo he created."

Alvarado said Speaker Boehner should allow a vote on the comprehensive reform bill, but added that the president should also unilaterally ease deportations.